Seeking Vengeance and Finding Absolution
by Twisted Vixen
Summary: Full summary inside. Tsunade died to save Naruto, who then lost control of Kyuubi and destroyed part of Konoha. Danzou, as the new Rokudaime, put Naruto in prison. When Sasuke finds out about Naruto, what will he decide to do? Eventually SasuNaru
1. Losing It

**Summary:** A new enemy rose against Konoha. Tsunade was killed trying to save Naruto, who then lost control of Kyuubi killing all the enemies and destroying a part of Konoha in the process. Danzou seized his opportunity to became Rokudaime and put Naruto into prison hoping to turn him into a weapon. Meanwhile, Team Hawk is sent to Konoha to capture the nine-tails before Pein can get to it. But Sasuke has a plan of his own. What happens when he finds out about the new Konoha and Naruto? When faced with the man behind his nightmare, what will he choose to do? Eventually SasuNaru

**Warning: ** Possible spoilers for current manga chapters if you're not keeping up.

**Disclaimer:** Obviously if I'm writing fanfiction, I do not own Naruto.

**Author's note:** I've decided to try my hand at revamping this entire story. When I reread it, I saw so many things that I think needed to be changed and fleshed out. And now's the time to do it. However, the major ideas for what will happen in this story will remain the same.

* * *

**Seeking Vengeance and Finding Absolution**

**Chapter 1 - Losing It  
**

* * *

_**(Edited 4/12/2011)**_

Naruto sat unmoving on his bed. His face was completely blank. Unfortunately, his mind was not as blank as his face looked to be. He wanted to cry but the tears wouldn't come.

First he lost Ero-sennin…now baa-chan was taken from him as well. Two of his most precious people, the closest thing he had to family, were gone.

What did he do to deserve this? Was it his destiny to be alone, uncared for, unloved? It seemed that no matter how hard he tried to hold tight to the people he loved, they were wrestled from him anyway. His parents, whoever they were, Sasuke, Jiraiya, Tsunade... He clutched a hand to his chest in the vicinity of the persistent ache.

His heart couldn't take much more loss. To make matters worse, Tsunade died saving his life…again. Now he wished she'd let him die. Was he really worth giving one's life for? Maybe it would be better for everyone if he was dead. At least then the kyuubi would be gone forever. He would no longer endanger anyone because of the possibility of the seal breaking. Akatsuki would no longer bother Konoha.

It's not like he had anything to live for now anyway. Nothing had changed in Konoha. He was still hated by the village despite how many times he'd played their hero. He used to think he could force their thinking to change. It took years for him to finally realize that it was never going to happen. Their hatred ran so deep that Konoha was slowly rotting to the core. That hatred has already been passed on to their children. Then it will be passed on to their children's children. Tsunade's presence and authority was a cap. But now that the cap was gone, it was impossible to stop. He knew now...he would never be hokage. Tsunade was his biggest supporter, and now that she was gone, he didn't have a chance in hell. There would be a new hokage, but it wouldn't be him.

So where did that leave him?

Naruto flopped back on his bed and stared up at the ceiling without really seeing. He really wasn't sure what to do with himself now. He had a feeling the council wouldn't be too happy with him. He'd probably be getting a summons as soon as they were able to get things back in order. And he knew exactly why, even if he couldn't remember it happening. Those gaps in memory always happened when he lost control of the kyuubi.

For lack of anything else to do, he tried to fit the blank pieces together. He remembered being called to duty after an explosion destroyed the gate and being dispatched outside the village with his teammates. He recalled seeing Kabuto with Orochimaru-like features and doing battle with him while the rest of his team and others took out the zombies that he kept summoning. Then he made his mistake. Kabuto mentioned Sasuke and, like an idiot, he paused in the battle. That pause was all that Kabuto needed and he was able to slip through his defenses. He expected to die, but Tsunade jumped in front if him and took the blow that was meant for him. And that's when things get sketchy. He remembers nothing after that except anger and pain, until he woke up to see all the enemies around him dead and a huge chunk of Konoha completely wiped out. No one had to tell him, he knew he had done it. He still hadn't heard if anyone had been hurt.

Sakura or Shizune must have somehow gotten him back to his apartment and healed him because this is where he awakened.

His musings were interrupted by the front door being kicked off his hinges. He jumped into a battle stance as his room suddenly filled with masked men. He recognized them of course...ANBU.

"Uzumaki Naruto, you're under arrest."

Sadly, Naruto couldn't say he wasn't expecting that. He was figuring on being called to chambers after his latest loss of control. He had destroyed a whole section of the village after all. Still, he had to ask, "What for?"

Instead of getting an answer, he was roughly grabbed by two of them. He thought about fighting, but considering he had just been healed and was still much lower on chakra than he would've liked, he knew there was no way he'd win against an entire squadron of ANBU. He would have to bide his time. He was cuffed none too gently and pulled from his apartment.

They walked down the mostly deserted street. Naruto's eyes narrowed suspiciously. He knew the way to the Hokage Tower like the back of his hand. He could find his way there blind if he had to.

And this was not the way...not even close. "Hey, where are you taking me?"

"Quiet demon," one of them growled.

Naruto stopped, startled at the hostility in the voice. The ANBU weren't usually so hostile to him. In fact, during his young lifetime he could probably count on one hand the amount of ANBU that hated him. Most of them didn't bother him much. He knew they were around, sure. Had been since practically birth. He knew most of their chakra signatures now due to heavy exposure to it over the years. He was pushed in the back by one of the men and forced to keep moving. The wheels were turning in his mind and he watched his many escorts suspiciously. He knew quite a few of the ANBU because of various ones being assigned to watch him from his childhood on. After glancing at the masks of the ones surrounding him, he suddenly understood. This wasn't ANBU...This was Root.

Hell, this was bad...He needed to get away now. But how?

"Hell no! Not until I know where we're going." Naruto began to struggle against his captors.

"I said shut up demon!" One kicked out at him, but missed the blond, who jumped away. He took one look back at them, then he ran. Sure it wasn't the most honorable thing...he hated running from a fight. But in this case, he was hoping that somehow he'd lose them. Unfortunately, with the cuffs limiting his hand movement, there wasn't much hope of him getting way. Still, he made his way through the dark alleys he knew so well due to his experience running away from villagers. But it was to no avail. Even with his penchant for stealth, it wasn't long before he was caught. He struggled futilely with the many hands and arms that tried to grasp him. Finally, one of the men had enough. He hit a couple of pressure points to incapacitate the blond. Naruto eyes went wide for one short moment before he saw black.

**x x x**

In the hokage's office sat a man wrapped in bandages so only part of his face was seen. A cane was next to his seat. At first glance, the man seemed too weak and frail to lead a village so well know for their powerful hokages. But he seemed quite comfortable in his spot at the top.

In a swirl of leaves an ANBU appeared in his office and knelt in submission before his leader. The hokage looked and stared at him for a moment before waving him to his feet so as to give his report.

"It has been done, just as you commanded."

"So he is here?"

"Yes."

An almost wicked gleam appeared in the man's eye. "Good."

**x x x**

Naruto woke up with a groan. He sat up, which only made him feel slightly ill when the dark room started spinning. After the room finally stopped spinning, he began to examine his surroundings. It didn't take much to figure out he was in a cell. It was damp and there were no windows. He walked up to the bars tentatively reaching out a hand only to receive a shock.

"Ow!" He glared at the bars in annoyance. It didn't look like he was going anywhere soon. "Oi! Is there anybody out there!" he yelled.

All he heard was silence.

He grumbled and sat on the stone slab that seemed to serve as the bed. With a sigh he leaned his head back against the wall. Despite what everyone thought, he wasn't an idiot. He knew exactly why he was here. There was no other possible explanation. For the umpteenth time, he cursed his tenant. He brought his hand to his face, intending to rub it, but suddenly noticed a bracelet on his wrist.

"What the hell?" he muttered. He scrunched his face slightly in thought as he saw the same bracelet on his other wrist. "Well damn."

Though he knew there wasn't much chance of it working, he tried a small jutsu anyway, without success. "Great...just great." He knew he was screwed now. Not only was he in a cell that most likely prohibited the use of chakra, he was also wearing chakra draining bracelets. Whoever stuck him in here took every precaution to make sure he wouldn't be able to use his or Kyuubi's chakra. At this rate, there was not much chance of him getting out on his own.

An evil growl sounded. His stomach would pick now to complain of hunger.

"Oi! Can I at least get food here?"

Silence again.

His sigh echoed through the cell and he laid back on the concrete slab and figured he'd try to sleep.

The next day was more of the same. The only difference being the food that had been left in the cell. Well, that is if the slop he couldn't even recognize and attempted to keep down could be called that. No one had come to the cell yet, at least not when he was awake. And all of the yelling in the world didn't bring anyone to his cell. By the third day, he was so bored that he decided to train. There wasn't much he could do besides taijutsu, situps and pushups. But it was better than sitting around and doing nothing.

So he trained.

And trained...

And trained...

For the first couple of weeks it kept him busy.

By week three he was too tired. Whatever little bit of food he was given, which only came once a day, was not enough to give him the energy to do much.

By week four he didn't do much but lay there.

By week five he had stopped counting the days.

By week six it seemed like he'd been in prison forever.

...and still he hadn't seen a face.

Week seven came.

For the first time, he heard footsteps. Slow footsteps. And a cane.

He sat up, wincing slightly as his muscles protested from lack of movement. In the weak lighting he saw a man approaching. He was bandaged almost from head to toe. Naruto growled. He should've known. Only those bastard elders would do something like this. And this one was the worst of them all.

The elder stood in front of the cell. "Uzumaki Naruto."

"Danzou." He almost spat. "I should've known this was your doing."

"You are sadly mistaken...This is your own doing. It was you who lost control of the beast." Naruto glared, but didn't say anything to that. He knew at least that much was true.

"What do you want from me? You can't keep me in here forever."

"Actually, I can. You see,_ I_ am now the Rokudaime Hokage. And no one on the council will oppose me."

Naruto couldn't completely hide his shock. Danzou noticed and chuckled.

"Surprised? Did you really think it would be you?"

Naruto glared with as much power as he could muster. If that man was hokage, he was seriously screwed. Danzou smirked...not at all intimidated by the glare.

"As for what I want from you? I want the same thing I've always wanted from you. And I will get it. Tsunade and Sarutobi got in my way too many times and prevented me from being able to touch you. But now, no one will stand in the way of my plans. You will become mine to control."

"No one controls me."

"We shall see my little fox. We shall see..."

And then Danzou turned and walked away. Naruto glared at his back until his line of vision was blocked by three Root members. Two restrained him while the other whispered a few words and did some hand signs then touched Naruto's forehead. Before he could blink the three had disappeared and he was alone.

A few minutes later, he wished he wasn't. For a moment, he seemed to black out. And then it began. He was assaulted with visions. They washed over him again and again, with no reprieve.

Except they weren't visions.

They were memories.

Horrible memories that he had somehow learned to block away at a young age, lest he go insane. They were memories that even a being as sadistic as the Kyuubi didn't bring up. There were the worst memories of his life.

_Angry villagers._

_Drunken assaults_

_Fists thrown, Weapons flung. _

_He was too young to protect himself._

_Hatred flowed like his blood._

_The scent of blood and sex..._

_The pain...the horrible pain of invasion..._

Naruto screamed.


	2. The New Hokage

**Summary:** First 9 chapters are being completely revamped as of April 2011. A new enemy rose against Konoha. Tsunade was killed trying to save Naruto, who then lost control of Kyuubi killing all the enemies and destroying a part of Konoha in the process. Danzou seized his opportunity to became Rokudaime and put Naruto into prison hoping to turn him into a weapon. Meanwhile, Team Hawk is sent to Konoha to capture the nine-tails before Pein can get to it. But Sasuke has a plan of his own. What happens when he finds out about the new Konoha and Naruto? When faced with the man behind his nightmare, what will he choose to do? Eventually SasuNaru

**Warning: ** Possible spoilers for current manga chapters if you're not keeping up.

**Disclaimer:** Obviously if I'm writing fanfiction, I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Seeking Vengeance and Finding Absolution**

**Chapter 2 - The New Hokage  
**

* * *

_**(Edited 4/12/2011)**_

It had been almost two months since anyone had seen or heard from Naruto. That's not to say that no one was worried though. When no one saw him the first few days, everyone figured he was off somewhere mourning Tsunade in his own way. She had been the closest thing to a relative he had left after all. So they left it alone and figured he would come around when he was ready. Tsunade's memorial service was a week after the attack. He didn't show up for it. And there was still no sign of him. Even the owner of Ichiraku's hadn't seen him.

Sakura and Kakashi figured that maybe Naruto was upset and ashamed over his loss of control that night and was avoiding everyone. That was only until they went by his apartment a couple of weeks later and found it dusty and stale, as if no one had been there in a while.

By then, his friends were very worried and began to check every hangout of his that they could think of...the Hokage Mountain, the forests around Konoha, they even checked the forest of death – all with no success. Sakura knew Naruto's apartment well enough...nothing important was mission, so she was pretty sure he hadn't left the village. Besides, he would never leave Konoha.

So where could he have possibly gone?

* * *

Shikamaru was lying at his favorite spot on the hill, watching the clouds go by, when a messenger bird landed on his chest. He lazily looked down at the bird and raised his hand to take the message with a sigh. After reading the contents, he sat up causing the bird to jump away from his resting place and fly away. "Troublesome," he muttered before making a few handsigns and disappearing.

Over in the Hyuuga compound, Neji was training with his uncle when they were interrupted by the same summons. Both shunshined away.

Kakashi was on the couch in his apartment giggling as he read his perverted book. He was interrupted by a tapping at his window. He let the bird in and read the message with his one eye and looked up at the bird with a serious expression and nodded. The bird flew away while the jounin disappeared in a shower of leaves.

Gai and Lee were running their 430th lap around Konoha, both of them grinning and extolling the power of youth at every opportunity, when a bird flew smack into Gai's face. Even Lee, who was completely enamored of his sensei, couldn't stop laughing at the sight Gai made. He choked out an "are you okay" between peals of laughter while Gai pealed the poor bird away from his face with as much dignity as he could muster. He pulled the message away and read it. His eyes widened and he apologized to his favorite student, who was still laughing and holding his stomach, for not finishing laps with him and ran back toward the Hokage tower.

**x x x**

Neji saw Shikamaru lazily walking toward the meeting room. He caught up and walked next to him. "So you've been summoned as well."

Shikamaru slid his eyes over and then gave a lazy nod. "Yeah and I was hoping no one would bother me today. What a drag."

"So, what do you think this is all about?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Don't know. But it's too troublesome to think about. I'll just wait and see."

Both reached the hokage tower and made their way to the meeting room. Shikamaru actually took the energy to raise an eyebrow. It seemed like every jounin and ANBU member of Konoha was there. He found a spot in the back of the room in a dark corner and leaned against it, hoping to be as inconspicuous as possible. Maybe if it was too boring a meeting, he could nap and no one would notice. Neji followed him with a smirk, knowing what his idea was and sort of agreeing with him.

"Well, I do know this much...the council is involved. My uncle went into chambers as soon as he got here."

Shikamaru sighed and closed his eyes as he leaned his head back. "Maybe they appointed a new hokage then."

Neji nodded even though Shikamaru wasn't looking. That was a logical conclusion. But why would only ANBU and jounin be summoned? They could just announce that to the entire village like they always have.

Kakashi looked to be reading his precious Icha Icha as he walked in, but it was only a cover to observe what was going on around him. The fact that all the jounin and ANBU were there made him a bit wary. He narrowed his eyes slightly at the council of elders who were just coming out of chambers. Whatever was going on, it wasn't normal.

"GREETINGS MY ETERNAL RIVAL!"

'_Oh good god not Gai.'_ Kakashi wanted to disappear to another section of the room but he knew the eccentric man would just follow him.

"Did you say something Gai?" Kakashi never took his eyes off the book.

Gai grinned bright enough to light up the room. "GOOD ONE MY RIVAL! YOU ARE SO HIP AND MODERN!"

Kakashi rolled his eyes.

Talking turned to low mutters as more and more ninja noticed the council entering the meeting room. This was definitely not a normal occurrence. All the members stood at the front and waited for silence. Two of the elders, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, stepped forward.

"Thank you all for coming on such short notice. I'm sure you are wondering why you were called here today. As you all know, with the unfortunate and untimely death of the Godaime, it is imperative that a new hokage be appointed as soon as possible so the other nations will not question our strength." Koharu began.

More murmurs went through the crowd.

"The council has deliberated for days and we have come to a decision."

Kakashi actually closed his book. He had a bad feeling in his gut about the whole thing. Shikamaru glanced at Neji, Neji gave him a raised eyebrow. This was all very strange. Kurenai, who stood on the other side of the room, raised an eyebrow at Genma a few feet from her. He shrugged and waited to see what happened.

This time Homura continued. "We thought that our high ranking ninja should hear the news first and then it will be announced to the village in the coming days. Here is our Rokudaime."

The doors opened and in walked a man with a cane, covered in hokage robes, and slowly making his way to the front of the room. Upon reaching the front, he took a seat behind the empty desk and looked at them all with his one good eye. Genma's mouth popped open in shock and his senbon needle fell to the floor forgotten. Kakashi's book dropped to the floor with a thump that no one noticed. Quite a number of jounin and ANBU were stuck between an expression of shock and dismay. Smatterings of applause began, mostly from a group of ANBU on one side of the room that everyone else automatically assumed must be members of Root. Gai eyed Kakashi from his spot. Neji narrowed his eyes at the lazy Nara and Shikamaru replied with a sigh and a frown.

Anyone who knew anything about this man was thinking the same thing...Things did not look good for Konoha.

Danzou gave a brief acceptance speech that no one, besides his Root members and possibly the council, paid attention to. Everyone else was too busy giving friends and acquaintances the eye. This was going to be a hot topic behind closed doors at the moment the meeting adjourned, that was for sure. After the speech, Danzou got started on the rest of his agenda. He gazed at the room full of _his_ ninja.

"Konoha is meant to be the greatest of all the ninja villages. The last two hokage have made this village weak in the eyes of the surrounding nations. I _will_ make it great again. As of this moment, Root will no longer function underground. It is now out in the open and fully operational. I have every confidence that both Root and ANBU will work together as one for the good of Konoha."

ANBU members began to murmur among themselves about the changes. Kakashi glanced at a few of them he knew from his past association with them and though he couldn't see their faces, just their stance told them what they thought of this whole arrangement.

"I have decided that certain things need to be dealt with immediately. The first priority is to take care of security. It is too lax. That will change as of right now. From this moment on, jounin and chuunin will be taken off of security detail. Only Root and ANBU members will serve as watchmen. ANBU will continue missions as they have in the past, in addition to taking on the higher ranked missions that used to be assigned to jounin. Also, the teams will be reconfigured. Two Root members will be assigned with two ANBU members."

Jounin and ANBU alike voiced their displeasure quite adamantly.

"Silence!" Homura said loudly. The crowd quieted.

"You have questions?" Danzou asked quietly, but the glare he gave them all spoke volumes. He really meant for them all to stay silent and submit.

One person raised a hand.

Every single person in the room looked to see who dared. Kakashi lazily dropped his hand and looked right in Danzou's eye.

"I have two questions actually." He drawled. "What are us lowly jounin going to be doing since you obviously don't seem to think we can handle security anymore?"

Danzou's eyes narrowed, but he didn't rise to the bait. "You will do what you have always done - missions, take on genin teams, and the like. I plan to have every jounin take on either a genin or chuunin team. If jounin concentrated on training their teams instead of having to train and do high ranked missions on the side, our ninja ranks will be better and stronger for it. Maybe then we could avoid a situation like what happened with the Uchiha. Don't you agree?"

Kakashi clenched his fists. He had an angry retort on the tip of his tongue, but he held back. Instead, he moved on to his next question without answering Danzou. "As for my second question, has anyone been made aware that Uzamaki Naruto has been missing for the past few weeks?"

"I have been informed and it has been taken care of."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed at the word usage. "Taken care of?"

"Yes. The other details you are not at liberty to know."

At this, every person who knew and liked Naruto had to bite their tongues. The message had been clear. Gai's eyes flicked toward Kakashi's and he nodded in response. Shikamaru and Neji's eyes met and held and within seconds a conversation had been held.

"If there are no other questions, thank you for your attention and cooperation. This meeting is adjourned." Homura announced. Everyone filed out slowly with a lot on their minds.

* * *

Neji met Shikamaru at Naruto's 2nd favorite spot – the fourth's head. At first they both just sat there, neither knowing what to say after such a shocking turn of events. Finally Shikamaru was the one who broke the silence as he sighed. "Troublesome."

"Indeed." Neji replied. "So now what?"

Shikamaru glanced at Neji. "I think Naruto is in big trouble."

Yes, the two knew about their blond friend's tenant. Neji, after seeing that strange red chakra during the chuunin exam, kept asking Hiashi until he finally told him the truth in private chambers. Shikamaru figured it out on his own, of course, and then confronted his father with the information.

"We need to inform the others."

"Yeah we do. Man, this is gonna be such a drag."

"I'll go talk to my team and Hinata's. You take the others."

"Where?"

"Your usual training ground, it's more out of the way than ours."

"Alright. See you in an hour."

Neji nodded and they both disappeared. Little did they know that another group was coming together for a meeting, just like them.

* * *

Kakashi, Gai, Kurenai, Genma, and a few masked ANBU were assembled in Kurenai's home. She had put up genjutsu after genjutsu to make sure no one would know. No one trusted Danzou's squad and the last thing they needed was any of them finding out about this meeting.

"So..." Genma started then stopped, not really knowing were to go from there. Kakashi took over.

"This has to be the worst possible scenario."

He knew well the type of person Danzou was. Danzou never liked his late sensei and they butted heads many times during council meetings before the Kyuubi came and wreaked havoc on the village. He had wanted to be hokage back then, but Sarutobi picked Minato and he hated his sensei from that moment on. Most of their confrontations involved Root. Minato wanted to dissolve it. Of course, Danzou balked at it. When Minato died, Danzou tried to take over, but Sarutobi had already been recalled as hokage. He resented Sarutobi from then on. Kakashi also knew that Danzou's idea of loyal shinobi were using young children and conditioning them into emotionless automatons like Sai in order to get the mission done. Now that he had finally gotten the position he wanted, what would that mean for the academy? Or for any ninja of Konoha?

"Yes, it is. But what can we do about it my rival?" Gai asked.

"I don't know. But now we need to figure out what to do about Naruto."

"What could they have done with him?" Kurenai asked worried.

"My bet is either prison or Root headquarters." The cat ANBU answered.

"It's not like one is better than the other, unfortunately." Added the bear ANBU.

"Great...so now what?" Genma asked. "It's not like we can just walk in there and spring him. Now that Danzou's leading, you can bet he's going to have the prison crawling in Root members. Not to mention if he's held in Root headquarters."

"Well, I think if we're going to find a way to help Naruto, we'll need all the help we can get." Kakashi hadn't looked this alert and serious in a long time. He almost looked like he did back in his ANBU days. "We need to gather everyone we are 100 percent sure would be willing to help Naruto."

The exact moment he finished his sentence, there was a knock at the door. Everyone turned to Kurenai. Each one of them already had a hand on a weapon. She rolled her eyes at the males.

"Relax, it's my students." The ANBU in the room still looked a bit wary.

"Don't worry, they are good friends of his." They relaxed only minutely.

The red eyed jounin shook her head and opened the door to find Hinata in tears, Kiba growling, and Shino's bugs buzzing in response to the young man's anger.

"So I'm guessing that you've already heard?"

A terse nod came from Shino, the others didn't even respond. She pulled the three inside. The three younger ninja looked at the other occupant of the room in confusion. Kiba stopped growling and digging his claws in his palms long enough to point at the others.

"What the hell are ANBU doing here?"

Hinata stopped crying and grabbed Kiba's shoulder to stop him. "W-we're here t-to let you know about a meeting Neji and Shikamaru are about to have in a few minutes."

"Meeting? What meeting?" Kurenai asked. All the jounin's and ANBU glanced at each other.

"About Naruto, of course!" Kiba replied with another growl.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. He guessed the two geniuses figured out the underlying message of Danzou's words as well. "Where?"

* * *

It was the new moon, so it was quite dark in the clearing, but no one dared use any kind of light. Ninja silently arrived one after the other, none saying a word. Once everyone was assembled, Neji and Shikamaru walked into the middle of the group. Shikamaru looked toward the last group that arrived.

"Kurenai, would you mind?" She knew exactly what he wanted and proceeding to perform a powerful genjutsu, as well as a silencing jutsu.

Shikamaru and Neji stared at each other, trying to determine which of them would speak. Neither were exactly conversationalists – Shikamaru being too lazy to bother, Neji was one step above the traitorous Uchiha on the unsociable scale. Neji finally sighed and stepped forward.

"We apologize for the short notice, however, we have information that cannot wait. A meeting was held in the hokage tower today. A new hokage has been appointed. The name of the man taking on this role is Danzou."

A gasp was heard off to the left. Everyone turned toward the sound. Sai had gone paler than usual and stared at them with wide eyes.

"Sai, what's wrong?" Sakura asked in concern. Kakashi and Yamato both understood Sai's brief expression of emotion since they both knew of his connection to Root.

"Nothing...I am fine." Sakura stared for a moment. She didn't believe him, but she would worry about it later.

"There's been a lot of shake ups already in the ninja ranks. Root is now an open and active part of the ANBU. ANBU and Root will be working together from now on. Jounin will all be assigned either a genin or chuunin team to train and take on missions."

"And there will probably be more...troublesome," Shikamaru added.

"But there is a bigger reason that we called you here. Naruto." Neji stated solemnly.

"Does he know what happened to him?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi answered before Neji could, "I asked about his disappearance. Danzou's answer was that he was 'taken care of' and that we weren't privy to anymore information."

"Eh? What is that supposed to mean?" Ino and Sakura both growled in frustration.

"It means that we need to find Naruto and fast." Yamato replied.

"Danzou is not one to be trifled with, even before he became hokage he was a dangerous man to cross. Now that he has the power, there's no telling what might happen." Kakashi continued, "As most of you know, Naruto is not exactly liked by most of the village. However those of you that were not present at the battle a few weeks ago do not know exactly why. I think all of you need to know the truth if we're going to help him."

"What truth? What are you talking about?" Ino asked.

"Shut up Ino and let him finish." The blonde girl glared at Shikamaru, who didn't notice.

"The way the young man has been treated for so long is unyouthful." Gai added. His shorter clone next to him nodded even though he had no idea what his sensei meant.

"Thank you Gai." Kakashi sarcastically acknowledged. "I guess the easiest way to start is by telling you that the history books were wrong. The Kyuubi was never killed. He was _sealed_."

And for the next few minutes, the real story was told. That night, as everyone retreated to their homes, their opinions on the so-called dead last had changed forever.

* * *

Four figures ran in the darkness, through the trees, toward the Land of Fire. They set a furious pace - so fast, they were almost a blur. Right before they were to enter Fire, all of them halted. The moon came out from behind the clouds to highlight the group. There were three males and one female. The female had bright red hair and glasses perched on her nose that made her look smart. One male was just huge with orange hair. The young man next to him carried a giant sword. The last had skin as pale as the moon and had black hair spiking out in the back. All of them were covered in black cloaks with red clouds.

With a nod from the black haired one, all of them ran forward, closing in on their destination. The four were on a very important mission to a village that the dark haired male had not planned on seeing again anytime soon after he left it behind.

Their mission?

Capture the nine tailed demon fox.


	3. Home Truths

**Summary:** First 9 chapters are being completely revamped as of April 2011. A new enemy rose against Konoha. Tsunade was killed trying to save Naruto, who then lost control of Kyuubi killing all the enemies and destroying a part of Konoha in the process. Danzou seized his opportunity to became Rokudaime and put Naruto into prison hoping to turn him into a weapon. Meanwhile, Team Hawk is sent to Konoha to capture the nine-tails before Pein can get to it. But Sasuke has a plan of his own. What happens when he finds out about the new Konoha and Naruto? When faced with the man behind his nightmare, what will he choose to do? Eventually SasuNaru

**Warning: ** Possible spoilers for current manga chapters if you're not keeping up.

**Disclaimer:** Obviously if I'm writing fanfiction, I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Seeking Vengeance and Finding Absolution**

**Chapter 3 - Home Truths  
**

* * *

_**(Edited 4/15/2011)**_

Karin, Suigetsu and Juugo followed their leader as Sasuke climbed rock and walked into a damp cave. They could hardly see a foot in front of them, so their only option was to listen to the sound of Sasuke's feet, which wasn't as easy as it sounded. The Uchiha was practically the epitome of silence.

Suigetsu was actually alright with that because it forced Karin to remain silent. And if there was anything he appreciated these days, it was a reprieve from that woman's voice.

They weren't sure how far they had gone when Sasuke stopped. They stopped just sort of colliding with him. Then they waited while he did a small katon jutsu and lit a torch that he had in his hand. Then he took the torch and dipped it slightly into what looked to be water, but was actually some kind of flammable liquid. It ignited and bright orange flames moved swiftly down the side of the corridor, illuminating their path, much to their satisfaction. Sasuke returned the torch to its place and walked on without a word to his companions. The others fell in step behind him. The four followed the line of dancing flames, going deeper into the caves and winding through narrow pathways until they finally reached a room that seemed big enough to fit a small army. It was completely empty except for the stone chair on one end. Red and white fans – the symbol of the Uchiha Clan - dotted the floor, ceiling, walls, even the one seat in the room, though the colors had faded over time.

"Where are we?" Karin finally broke her silence while she slowly turned around the large room. Suigetsu rolled his eyes and answered.

"Where the hell do you think we are? There's clues all over the room, you know. Idiot."

"Was I even talking to you?" She glared at her teammate and raised a fist as a warning.

"Does it look like I care?" Suigetsu drawled and gave her a dismissive look. Karin screamed in anger and was just about ready to launch herself at the mist nin.

"Silence, or I'll kill you both." A monotone voice interrupted her plans to maim the annoying teammate. Sasuke turned a full force glare on both of them before he turned away and dropped his supplies into a corner. "This will be our hideout until the mission is completed."

"OOH...it's almost romantic!" Karin gushed and looped her arm into Sasuke's.

Sasuke glared, but she didn't - or refused to - notice and he seemed to be having a hard time pulling his arm away from the fangirl without the use of excessive force. Suigetsu snorted at Karin's pathetic fantasy. She heard it and glared at him with venom for his interruption of said fantasy.

"Well...it would be if_ HE_ disappeared," she continued.

"Yeah you go ahead and live in that fantasy world of yours. I'm not going anywhere." And to emphasize his point, he plopped down on the floor and made himself as comfortable as one could get on solid rock, with his sword lying next to him. Sasuke also sat down next to his pack. Karin looked down at him first, then looked over at Sasuke and quickly decided exactly where she wanted to sit.

"Sasuke-kun?" He didn't even glance up from his work. "It's SO uncomfortable on the floor. Can I sit with you?" _'...or on you?'_

He flicked his eyes to her for an instant before looking away. "No."

Karin sighed and found a spot of her own. Still, she arranged herself as close as she could to the love of her life without making him angry. Juugo had already silently found his spot. It wasn't long before all of them were settled in. Karin tossed each of them a ration bar. Suigetsu frowned at the unappetizing meal. Then he looked over at Sasuke who seemed to be deep in thought.

"So, what's the plan?"

Sasuke looked up. He grabbed a scroll from his pack and spread it out on the floor. The others came closer and looked down at the large sheet.

"This is a map of Konoha. Here," he pointed to a spot, "is the hokage tower." He pointed at different parts of the map in succession. "These are the larger clan compounds. And these here are the slums." He pointed to a section on the other side of the map. "This is where N- _'Naruto' _the Kyuubi-vessel lives. At least it was where he lived when I was last here."

Suigetsu threw a quick glance at Sasuke. He didn't know if anyone else had caught that slip, but he sure did. There was something more to this jinchuuriki, he was sure of it. Sasuke was always the perfect picture of calm. He never slips or stutters.

Their mission just might end up a bit tougher than he thought.

"You have your official papers from the mizukage..." Sasuke continued. The mist nin smirked and nodded in confirmation. The leader of Akatsuki, because he used to be mizukage, still had ways of being able to get official papers drawn up. He didn't tell...and Suigetsu sure wasn't about to ask. He wasn't stupid enough to think he could rival the kind of power the leader seemed to have.

"Good. The three of you will go there tomorrow. Security shouldn't be a problem since you have papers. It has always been pretty easy to get through anyway. Konoha always has been way too open and trusting. Scope things out, find the vessel, and watch him for a couple of days. Then come back and report." All three of them nodded.

"Karin?"

"Yes Sasuke-kun?"

"Your job is to take care of getting food."

"Anything for you Sasuke-kun!"

Suigetsu rolled his eyes and gagged. He wanted to heave. If he'd have asked her the same thing, she'd have gone on a rant about not being his woman/maid/whatever other term she'd come up with. This girl was certainly a piece of work.

It took quite a bit of control to keep Sasuke from shuddering at her obsessive tone. He was reminded of a pink haired fangirl from so long ago. It wasn't a good memory.

* * *

Suigetsu listened to Sasuke who was tossing and turning. Normally, even if the stoic ninja couldn't sleep, he'd be so quiet you'd still think he was asleep. A few minutes later, he saw Sasuke get up and leave the room. Whether it was the village or the jinchuuriki on his mind, either way, Sasuke was showing his anxiety, which wasn't good for any of them. It only took him a few seconds after the Uchiha left for him to decide to follow. He stood up and stretched the kinks from his limbs and followed him at a slow pace. It wasn't like he cared much about him in particular, but whatever was in his head needed to be dealt with for the sake of the mission.

He found him at the mouth of the cave staring out at god knows what. He knew that Sasuke knew he was there. It wasn't like he was all that quiet about following him anyway. He stood next to the dark haired ninja and looked out at, well, nothing. Finally, he sighed. He guessed there was no time like the present to say what was on his mind.

"So, Sasuke...who is this jinchuuriki to you?" Sasuke never even turned his head.

"No one."

"Right... Then why are you here instead of sleeping?"

Sasuke turned his head, just slightly, and glared at his teammate.

"Or is it being back in this village that's got you out of sorts?" Sasuke snorted at this.

"I could care less about this pathetic village. Why are you asking me stupid questions?"

"Why aren't you answering them?"

"Go away Suigetsu."

Suigetsu grinned. "But you haven't answered my questions."

"And I won't. Now go."

Well, the mist nin never was much for following orders when he didn't want to, so he stayed where he was. "Look, Sasuke. I don't really care about any of this stuff. I don't care why you hate your village, I don't care what your relationship is with anyone in that place. And I don't care why you want to follow that creep of a relative of yours. The three of us don't follow him. We follow _you_. For me, it's one big adventure...fight it out, spill some blood, grab some swords...it's a prime chance to hack some random people apart. But him...I don't trust him one bit. He reminds me of the snake and that's enough negative vibes for me to want to steer clear of him. But I don't, because it doesn't matter what I think as long as you trust him."

Sasuke still stared ahead, but Suigetsu could see his eyes narrow. "I don't trust _anyone_."

"Then why the hell are we here? Why are we doing this?"

"To get the Kyuubi vessel-"

"Which happens to be someone you know."

"Leave it alone Suigetsu." Sasuke said sharply.

He shrugged and raised his hands in a placating gesture. He knew when to stop pushing. "Hey, it's your show. Do what you want. But if you're going to do this, don't let whatever it is that's bothering you get in the way." With that said, he turned away and walked back down into the cave.

Sasuke never moved, but he heard Suigetsu walk away. He knew the nin was right...he was avoiding the questions. Being back here was disturbing the calm demeanor he tried to keep. Stupid memories of his family and so-called friends were assaulting him to the point of restlessness. He he hated being anywhere near Konoha.

He clenched his hands into fists. He had already broken all his bonds. There was nothing left in that village for him. So why was he so bothered? More specifically, why did visions of a blond ex-teammate haunt him when he closed his eyes? Why did he feel like his family's souls were upset with him? Damn this place! His eyes flashed red. The sooner he got away from Konoha, the better. He _would_ avenge his family. Once this mission was complete, he wouldn't step foot near this place again unless it was to tear the village apart for destroying his family.

With that final thought, the avenger spun on his heel and walked back down into the darkness.

* * *

Loud knocking woke Kurenai from her sleep. She first tried to sense if there was a threat. She frowned slightly at who she sensed at her door and quickly pulled on a robe as she rushed to the door, hoping the baby didn't wake from all the noise. It was hard enough to get the little one to sleep the first time. She didn't want to have to go through the process all over again. She peeked through the hole just to make sure she was right before opening the door to the Godaime's secretary.

"Shizune? What are you doing here?"

"Kurenai, I'm so sorry to wake you at this time of night. But I really need some help. I couldn't think of anywhere else to go at the moment."

Kurenai opened the door wider and waved her inside. "Come on in. I'll try to help you if I can." Shizune nodded and stepped inside, Ton Ton in one arm and a couple of big bags in the other. The genjutsu specialist hadn't noticed the other woman's hands were full until she opened the door fully. The darkness had also hidden the light red streaks that marked trails of tears that must've fallen earlier. Her eyes widened. "Shizune, what happened? What's with all the stuff?"

Shizune placed her bags by the door and slipped out of her shoes, but she never let go of the pet pig. In fact, she held onto it like it was the only thing holding her together. Kurenai took the distraught woman by the elbow and guided her to the couch.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to get you some tea. After that, we can talk." Shizune nodded and gave her a slight smile, though it didn't reach her eyes.

"Thank you."

Five minutes later, Kurenai returned with two cups of hot tea. She placed one in front Shizune. The other she held in her hand as she sat down next to the somber secretary. She said nothing for the moment and allowed the poor woman a chance to calm down. After a few sips, Shizune sat the cup down and sighed.

"Danzou kicked me out."

"What?" Kurenai was surprised. Not so much that he did such a thing, but that he would do such an underhanded thing in the cover of night.

"Surprised? I'm not...not really. It's just it would've been more polite if he'd done so before all of Konoha was asleep." Shizune sighed and finally raised her eyes to the woman next to her. "Kurenai, I know this sounds like a strange request. But do you mind if I stay here...just for tonight? I won't be any trouble, I promise. I'll just take the couch. I'll find somewhere else to stay tomorrow."

Kurenai placed a hand on her shoulder before she could keep rambling. "Sure you can stay. And don't worry, you can stay as long as you need to. That is, if you don't mind being disturbed by a baby every once in a while."

That got a smile from Shizune. "Oh…oh thank you so much! And I don't mind babies at all. But, are you sure you don't mind Ton Ton?"

"Well, from what I've always seen of him, he seems pretty well behaved. As long as he stays out of trouble, it won't be a problem. Just keep him out of the baby's room.

"Sure, no problem. Oh Kurenai, thank you. I don't know what I would've done."

"Don't thank me...what kind of kunoichi would I be if I didn't help a friend in need. Make yourself comfortable, I'll go get a pillow and blanket for you." Kurenai left to get what she needed to make up the couch. It also gave her a moment to think. She wasn't surprised that Shizune was no longer needed. Danzou was sure to fill that position with a member of Root. Having Shizune removed when there was nowhere for her to go was probably meant to be one final snub to Tsunade. That man was despicable.

By the time she was back in the living room, Shizune was on the couch putting some folders back together. "You can do that tomorrow you know. Why don't you get some rest? I'm sure you could use it."

"Actually I'd rather take care of this now before I sleep."

"Suit yourself." Kurenai shrugged and left the pillow and blanket on the side of the couch. "What is it anyway?"

"Oh, just a couple of important files."

"As in personnel files?"

Shizune nodded while Kurenai looked at her in confusion. "Wouldn't those be in the hokage's files?"

"Normally, yes. You see, I overheard Danzou planning to burn these."

"So you stole them?"

Shizune shrugged. "Better that then for the truth to be hidden forever."

"What do you mean? What truth?" Kurenai eyed the two folders as she sat back down next to her. "Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Itachi?" The red-eyed kunoichi had a feeling things were about to get very complicated. The fact that Danzou wanted to burn Naruto's files validated everyone's assumption that he had something to do with Naruto's disappearance. But why would he want to destroy Itachi's file? He was a missing nin, everyone knew that. What could there be to hide?

"Yes. Since the day she became hokage, Tsunade suspected Danzou of foul play, though she could never find any evidence of it. So she kept a few things in her own personal files just in case he ever tried anything. These two files are probably the most important things she kept. He won't know it, but the files he plans on burning are dummy files. She made copies a year ago that only have partial information. These," she gestured to the fat files on her lap, "are the real files."

Now Kurenai was curious. But another question kept her hand from reaching out just yet.

"Are you sure he won't notice?"

"He'll be too busy celebrating being in power and destroying the truth that I doubt he'll even look beyond the name on the file folder."

Kurenai nodded and stared at the files in front of her. What could be in those files that would make Danzou want to destroy them and make Tsunade go through the trouble of keeping them away from Danzou? She took the Uchiha file and placed it on her lap. She hesitated before flipping open the file and reading the first page. It was typical shinobi identification information. Name, rank, number, skills, etc. The next few pages outlined his medical history. She quickly perused them, but found nothing out of the ordinary. It wasn't until she started reading the next few pages that her attention was drawn. First, there was a note from the Sandaime and then a document signed by him and the elders. Slowly her eyes got wide. Soon her mouth dropped open in shock at what the two documents had just revealed. "Uh…Shizune?"

"Hm?"

"Do you know what's in these files?"

"No, I have no idea what's in Uchiha Itachi's files. Only what's in Naruto-kun's. Why?"

Kurenai didn't bother answering. She held the two documents up to Shizune's face. Shizune gasped as she read. "Is this really true?" she asked in a small voice her eyes wide.

"The seal and signature is unmistakable. It's definitely the third's. And if Danzou's so interested in getting rid of evidence, this only proves that it must be true. "

"But, if this really is true…"

"Yes…I know."

Neither was able to say anything else. Both females sat engrossed with their own thoughts on what this really meant for Konoha...even more for the individuals it affected. No wonder Danzou wants Itachi's file gone. If this information _ever_ got out, it would change everything. Kurenai knew there was no way she would be getting any sleep now. She was wide awake and if she was going to be awake with her thoughts, she might as well finish reading. She started on the next document.

"Uh…excuse me, Kurenai?" Shizune tried to stifle the yawn that escaped her.

"Yes?"

Shizune twisted her hands and gave a little laugh. "Uh…I'm kinda tired."

"Oh…yes, sure you are. I'm sorry. I'll let you sleep. I'll finish reading this in my room." She got up gathering the folder in her arms.

"Kurenai, I'm not so sure that's…"

"Oh, don't worry, I'll take good care of it." She replied with a soft smile. "I'll give it back to you in the morning. Now, get some sleep."

"O-okay. Thanks again for letting me stay here."

"You're welcome. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Kurenai checked on the baby first before going back to her room. She sat on her bed and turned on a small reading lamp on the nightstand then stared at the large file in front of her. If she made it through this one tonight, she could check out Naruto's file in the morning. This had just become her self-appointed mission. It wasn't out of just curiosity, she felt she had a duty to learn the truth. Especially in the case of Naruto. If her reading his file meant that they would be able to find some way to save him from whatever fate awaited him, then she would do it. And then she would tell what she learned to their small group of Naruto supporters.

She had a feeling the next late night meeting would be quite interesting when she shared this information. She sighed and pulled the next document. _'It's going to be a long night.'_


	4. Power of a Human Sacrifice

**Summary:** First 9 chapters are being completely revamped as of April 2011. A new enemy rose against Konoha. Tsunade was killed trying to save Naruto, who then lost control of Kyuubi killing all the enemies and destroying a part of Konoha in the process. Danzou seized his opportunity to became Rokudaime and put Naruto into prison hoping to turn him into a weapon. Meanwhile, Team Hawk is sent to Konoha to capture the nine-tails before Pein can get to it. But Sasuke has a plan of his own. What happens when he finds out about the new Konoha and Naruto? When faced with the man behind his nightmare, what will he choose to do? Eventually SasuNaru

**Warning: ** Possible spoilers for current manga chapters if you're not keeping up.

**Disclaimer:** Obviously if I'm writing fanfiction, I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Seeking Vengeance and Finding Absolution**

**Chapter 4 - Power of a Human Sacrifice  
**

* * *

_**(Edited 4/15/2011)**_

Kurenai had not slept more than an hour or two since she started reading. She finished the entire file about the time the first light of dawn began to show itself in the sky. What she had learned in those few hours of reading was enough to almost make her ashamed to be affiliated with the village of Konoha. She did not blame the Third for his part. She knew the majority of council had always been behind Danzou. However, she had to place some of the blame on him for all the things that happened afterward. There were so many what ifs. What if the youngest Uchiha had been told the truth? What if the Third ordered Itachi not to do it? What if the Third had never allowed the council to have so much control?

The unfeminine growl coming from her stomach stopped her early morning musings. She yawned and stretched, grabbed a robe and tied the belt around her waist while she shuffled her way to the kitchen. She badly needed coffee and some food. She noticed Shizune still sleeping soundly on the couch and tried to work quietly. While waiting for the coffee she made sure to get some milk ready for the baby that she was sure would be waking soon. She then grabbed an apple and started eating, almost mechanically, since her mind was still on the file.

She walked to the foot of the couch, kneeled and switched the Uchiha file with Naruto's file. Of course, she already knew about the Kyuubi being sealed into the blond. It was something she was informed of when she became a jounin, back when the boy was still in the academy. Beyond that though, she really didn't know much about the boy beyond his team and his ability to be a loud pranking troublemaker. Back when all the rookies were in genin teams, she considered him a decent ninja, nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, she, like so many, thought he was below average and that his only real advantage was his huge reserves of chakra. But then came the chuunin exams, where she watched in shock as he beat not only Inuzuka Kiba, but one of the most gifted genin, Hyuuga Neji. Then this boy had somehow did the impossible and got Tsunade to come back to Konoha. The shock didn't end there. Next she heard that he had been taken under the wings of a sannin and was on a training trip with him.

Who was Uzumaki Naruto?

What was so special about him? What would make a sannin – one who hadn't taught anyone since the Fourth – be willing to train him? What was it about him to could impress another sannin who had sworn never to come back to the village, to return and become hokage? She'd had various opportunities to witness the relationship Tsunade and Naruto shared. The Fifth might have been gruff with him, but she could see the love Tsunade had for him. And vice versa. The boy was like a little brother or son to her. And Naruto considered her as a grandmother-figure.

She was willing to die for him - And did...that's definitely saying something. She hoped that maybe this file would satisfy her curiosity, solve the mystery, and give her some information that might help them figure out Danzou's motives. She poured a cup of coffee and sat down to read.

* * *

The three members of Team Hawk strolled through the village virtually unnoticed. Of course, that was helped by the fact that Suigetsu was forced by the team to leave the giant cleaver behind. There's no way in hell they would have gotten through with the blade strapped to his back.

It was obvious from the buzzing around them, that the village was preparing for something big. They looked around and saw ceremonial banners and streamers being put up throughout the main road. With some selective listening, they were able to glean that the village was preparing for the inauguration of a new hokage. Well, that would explain why security was so tight. They wandered around a bit more in order to get familiar with what they saw on the map. They had little problem getting through the busiest part of the village and out to the section where the fox boy was supposed to live. Upon reaching the building Sasuke described, Karin looked up and grimaced at the old dilapidated building.

"Eww. Who the hell would want to live here?" It looked like a decent breeze just might blow the building down.

"Obviously, he does." Suigetsu muttered. He frowned. He had heard enough stories to know that most jinchuuriki weren't treated well by their villages. That eight-tailed one they fought was alone in the mountains – though it seemed to be of his own volition. And Kumo's other jinchuuriki had always been treated as an important member of the ninja ranks. But there was also the other side of the coin. Some of the jinchuuriki had hated their villages because of mistreatment. It seemed like the Kyuubi container fit the "not treated well" category.

He walked into the building and slowly went up the rickety stairs, the other two followed closely behind. Karin heard the wood creaking loudly with every step they took and she hoped they wouldn't fall through the stairs. Surprisingly enough, many of the lower floor apartments were occupied. But as they went farther up, the occupied apartments grew fewer and farther between. Soon they got to the top floor, which looked to be completely abandoned. Doors hung off hinges, paint was cracked a peeling, drywall looked close to crumbling, garbage littered the floor. Karin was getting more creeped out by the moment, although she tried not to show it in front of her companions. Some of Orochimaru's underground hideouts looked better than this.

Finally they reached what, according to Sasuke, was the apartment. Suigetsu stopped in front of the door and looked over at the red head. "Well?"

She felt for any chakra and then shook her head. "We're clear."

Suigetsu grinned. He was all set to kick in the door when Juugo grabbed his arm.

"We don't need to make a scene," he said matter of factly.

Suigetsu snorted and rolled his eyes. "Not like anyone would notice in this rathole. Hell, nobody else lives up here."

"Juugo is right though." Karin remarked. "Besides, if you do that, he'll know someone was here."

"So what? I bet he would think someone else did it considering what he is."

Karin only glared at him with a hand on her hip.

Suigetsu grumbled. "Should've known you'd take his side."

Juugo, while they were immersed in arguing per usual, proceeded to try the doorknob, which ended up being unlocked. The creaking door got the two squabblers' attention. Juugo really wanted to smirk at the both of them, but held it in and went inside. Karin gave one last glare to the mist nin and followed Juugo. The moment she was in the apartment she knew something wasn't right.

"He's not here."

"No really? I thought we already established that fact before we walked in. What _would_ we do without you?" Suigetsu rolled his eyes. Karin wanted to punch him.

"Shut up Suigetsu. That's not what I mean."

Juugo quietly swiped his finger over a rickety table then held it up to show the dust.

"See? He hasn't been here, for a while." Karin crossed her arms over her chest and looked triumphantly at her annoying companion.

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Don't get all high and mighty. It'll be more impressive if you can tell me how long it's been since he's been here."

Karin concentrated for a moment. "I would say at least a month. Maybe more."

"Hmm…a mission maybe?"

"No." Juugo gave Suigetsu a quiet reply. He went to a side table and picked up a half full pack and a Konoha headband.

Suigetsu leaned back against the wall thinking. "Definitely not a mission then. He couldn't have left the village. From what Sasuke says, he's practically glued to this place for whatever reason. Can't figure why though…they obviously treat him like crap."

"We better go tell Sasuke." Karin started moving toward the door.

"We still have to grab some food though." Suigetsu remarked following her.

"We'll get it on the way."

The three left the apartment and closed the door behind them. They were too busy arguing to noticed a ninja hidden farther down the dark hallway.

Shikamaru came out of the shadows, slouched and with his hands in his pockets. He watched the trio walk away and sighed. _'Troublesome.'_

* * *

Kurenai was staring in front of her, yet not really seeing anything at all. A few hours had passed since she started reading. The files of Uzamaki Naruto were on the floor next to her where she dropped them after she finished reading. She couldn't believe what she'd just read now, anymore than what she'd read about the Uchiha clan. Even after some time to digest it, she still couldn't wrap her mind around it. Yes, she knew the boy looked a bit like…but she never thought…

And to think, if not for the Sandaime, Danzou would've taken Naruto from the very beginning. He would've been made into a powerful unfeeling weapon for Konoha.

And suddenly she knew...

A gasp of horror escaped her lips and her red eyes went wide at the thought.

Danzou "took care" of Naruto alright. He's trying to gain what he had wanted so long ago.

A weapon.

She almost felt sick.

The sound of giggles shook her out of her stupor and she looked to her living room where Shizune was playing with the baby, who was always much more apt to be entertained after being fed.

It took her a few minutes to quell the slight feeling of nausea and calm the anger that was beginning to overtake her at the thought of Danzou's manipulations. Finally she sighed and got up to stretch her limbs that had been in the same position for far too long. Gathering up the files, she took them back into the living room and placed the Uzumaki file on the table. She gathered the squealing little girl in her arms, allowing Shizune to get a break. Shizune watched Kurenai for her reaction. Kurenai's face was blank. But it was her eyes that were telling...The red orbs blazed with her anger. Shizune took Naruto's file and placed it back in the bag with the other one. Without looking up she broke the silence.

"So, now you know the two biggest secrets of Konoha."

Kurenai nodded her head even though Shizune wasn't looking. Her mind on automatic pilot, Kurenai sat down next to the medic nin and rocked the baby in her arms. "I assume no one's ever told him?"

It wasn't a question even if it was phrased that way. She already knew the answer. Shizune knew that Kurenai know the answer, but shook her head anyway. Kurenai frowned.

"We have to tell the others. They need to know. We have to make a plan of action. We can't let this to happen to Naruto. He's been through too much already."

"Let what happen?" Shizune asked. "What are you talking about?"

"I know why Naruto went missing. It's simple really. The Sandaime and Godaime were his only deterrents for years. It's all Danzou's ever wanted."

"What?"

"A weapon. Someone powerful that he could mold and shape into an emotionless machine. Danzou finally has his chance to create the perfect weapon. And we have to stop him."

* * *

Naruto had no idea how much time had passed since he'd first seen Danzou and the visions began. Somewhere deep in his rational mind, he knew it was all some sort of genjutsu. Unfortunately genjutsu was his most glaring weakness. He had a harder time than most people dispelling it because his flow of chakra was practically impossible to interrupt. But he had learned enough over the years to be able to dispel most genjutsu. However, this one was strong, and without his chakra reserves he couldn't dispel it.

If these were just random visions he could've handled them. But these were his memories. His deepest darkest memories. He'd had the Kyuubi forcibly block these memories for a reason.

It didn't matter anymore, because right now, Naruto was in the throws of a nightmare relived. In his conscious mind, he hoped and prayed that the visions would get no worse. He didn't know how much more he could take without threat to his sanity. He paced the floor of the small cell and muttered positive things to himsef, hoping it would help him. His hands balled into fists until his nails drew blood and he hoped that just maybe there was some way to gain a bit of control of his mind. His breathing was labored.

_'I'm so tired.'_

He couldn't remember the last time he had some food or even water. He cursed Danzou. The old fart was trying to break him and he refused to let him. He would do everything in his power to stop him from getting whatever it was he wanted.

So intent was Naruto on combating the visions, he never heard the door open or the sound of feet. He knew nothing of his surroundings until the genjutsu was dispelled and Naruto swayed for a moment before falling to the floor and gasping for breath. He tried to take deep breaths and shake the horrible sights and sounds from his mind. He hadn't even noticed anyone was in the room with him.

"Hello Naruto-kun."

Naruto stopped and unconsciously held his breath as he slowly looked up to find that hated man in front of him. He still gave Danzou a glare of defiance even though his exhaustion kept him from holding it long.

"Hm…I see you're still so stubborn. I will break that of you yet."

"Go…to…hell." Naruto gasped out.

"You always were such a rude child. No one taught you that you should respect your elders?" He tsked while Naruto rolled his tired eyes. "Sarutobi should've done the right thing in the first place and gave you to me years ago. I would've cured you of that awful mouth of yours."

Naruto growled and slowly stood up. He swayed a bit as he tried to get his balance back, but finally he was able to hold himself upright - though he breathed hard from the exertion. He refused to look weak in front of THAT man. "I don't care…what you do…I won't let you break me. I won't...be your weapon."

Danzou glared at him. "Boy…"

Naruto bristled at being called a boy.

"…you have no idea of how many ways I can torture you. You don't have any idea what I can do to you. I can make you see things that are real, things that aren't real, things that would make you want to kill yourself, if you could. You can't possibly win." He chuckled. "But I see you might need a little bit of convincing, so let me show you what I mean."

Danzou slowly pulled up the wrappings on his left eye.

Naruto gasped as he was confronted with the one thing he never thought he would encounter from the elderly man.

"No..." he whispered.

All he saw was red.

* * *

Sasuke jolted awake with a gasp. He twisted his head left and right before finally relaxing, minutely, when he realized where he was and that he was safe. His heart was still pounding and his whole body had broken out in a cold sweat. He closed his dark eyes and inhaled a slow shuddering breath, then exhaled. He kept doing it until his heart stopped racing.

This…_feeling_. Something wasn't…right?

He stood up, immediately ready and alert for intruders. It was the only possibility he could come up with for how he was feeling. It was something he hadn't felt since the night his family was murdered. It was a feeling he hoped he'd never go through again, and yet here it was. If only he could pinpoint the source.

Why did he feel like something important was wrong? Had he miscalculated something. Did his teammates get captured? He was about to walk out into the caves and up to the mouth, but he felt three familiar chakras coming quickly. Sasuke felt slightly relieved. The first to enter was Suigetsu, followed by Karin, then Juugo bringing up the rear. It took all of Sasuke's control not to ask for answers immediately. Instead, he allowed them to sit and take a break. Karin passed around some fruit and rice balls. Once they had settled in, Sasuke looked at the three.

"So what did you find?"

"He wasn't at his apartment." Sasuke glared at Suigetsu. The mist nin stared back calmly.

"I thought I made it clear that you were to _find_ him wherever he was and _follow_ him."

"No Sasuke-kun," Karin stepped in before the argument could escalate. "The water brain over there meant that there was no sign of him at all. Not inside the apartment...and definitely not in Konoha."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed into a glare, "What do you mean he's not in Konoha?"


	5. NotSoWelcome Home

**Summary:** First 9 chapters are being completely revamped as of April 2011. A new enemy rose against Konoha. Tsunade was killed trying to save Naruto, who then lost control of Kyuubi killing all the enemies and destroying a part of Konoha in the process. Danzou seized his opportunity to became Rokudaime and put Naruto into prison hoping to turn him into a weapon. Meanwhile, Team Hawk is sent to Konoha to capture the nine-tails before Pein can get to it. But Sasuke has a plan of his own. What happens when he finds out about the new Konoha and Naruto? When faced with the man behind his nightmare, what will he choose to do? Eventually SasuNaru

**Warning: ** Possible spoilers for current manga chapters if you're not keeping up.

**Disclaimer:** Obviously if I'm writing fanfiction, I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Seeking Vengeance and Finding Absolution**

**Chapter 5 - Not-So-Welcome Home  
**

* * *

_**(Edited 4/19/2011)**_

_(previously)_

"_He wasn't at his apartment." Sasuke glared at Suigetsu. _

"_What do you mean he wasn't there? I thought I made it clear you were to find him and follow him." _

"_No Sasuke-kun, he meant there's no sign of him, not just in the apartment, but in Konoha." _

* * *

"What do you mean he's not in Konoha? That's not possible. Last I heard, he was confined to the village," Sasuke growled. He was not happy. He had come too far to be denied his revenge because his prey was missing.

"Well, you either heard wrong or he's not confined anymore." Suigetsu drawled.

"They do have a new hokage though, so maybe that had something to do with it." Karin added.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "A new hokage? Who is it?"

Suigetsu shrugged. "Didn't ask. I didn't care who the hokage was. You only asked us to find the kyuubi brat."

Sasuke sighed. _'If you want something done right…'_ He stood and grabbed his kusanagi. The others started to get up as well. He turned to them with a glare. "Don't follow me." He walked away assuming that they wouldn't follow.

Suigetsu watched him walk away. _'This is not going to turn out well.'_

* * *

In the hokage's office, Danzou was donning the robes of his soon-to-be-announced status. Homura and Koharu entered the room and stood before the man they voted as their Rokudaime. He gestured for them to sit.

"All preparations have been made." Homura began. "The village will be assembled in front of the tower first thing in the morning."

"Good." Danzou smirked slightly. Everything was going just as he planned. He even had the council in the palm of his hand. "Make sure security is tight. Root will be stationed around the tower during the ceremony. I will not tolerate any interruptions. And I will not be as lenient as the Fifth."

"ANBU has already been informed of their assignments during the ceremony." Koharu informed Danzou.

"And that is why you were chosen by this council. Tsunade was always too indecisive when Konoha was on the line. One cannot be indecisive" Homura continued.

"She was also too close to that Uzumaki boy. She made allowances that never should've been made."

"She was too tolerant of his rash behavior."

"He should've been confined to the village years ago, but she would not listen."

"However, we know that YOU will do what is best for Konoha." Both Homura and Koharu looked sharply at Danzou seeking affirmation, though they were sure they wouldn't need it.

Danzou nodded, giving them what they wanted. "Of course. Konoha is the most important thing to me. Whatever is in the best interests of the village is what I will do. For too long, Konoha has been the laughing stock of the ninja world. The other villages think our ninja are weak. Anyone thinks they can attack us and win. That is what happens when those who lead are too soft. I will not show such weakness. I will make this place the strongest of the ninja nations once again...just as we should be."

The two elders nodded. They had nothing left to say and stood as one. Koharu gave Danzou a slight smile, which somewhat softened her hardened features. "If that is all, we will leave you to finish your preparations and rest for tomorrow." Danzou nodded his permission and they left.

Once the door closed, Danzou summoned one of his Root members. The masked ninja knelt before his leader waiting for instructions.

"Rise Torune and tell me how my pet project is going."

"He is strong willed. More so than we thought."

"But has he broken?"

"No. He refuses to break, no matter how bad his memories are."

Danzou glared with his one good eye and gripped his cane in anger. "Hmm…I think it's time for me to make another visit. And this time it won't be nearly as pleasant as the last one."

He dismissed the ninja and sat back in his new chair. He smiled slightly and looked forward to his commencement ceremony that would cement his current position. But more importantly, he was thinking of exactly how he could break his stubborn little fox.

* * *

Sasuke stared at the gates of Konoha which was crawling with ninja. More surprising to him was the fact that they were ANBU. He hadn't seen security so tight since immediately after the chuunin exam back when he was still in the village. There was no way he would be able to get past the gates without causing a commotion. How his teammates were able to get in so easily, he didn't know. He sighed and shook his head. There was only one alternative. A henge...and not just any henge... _'I can't believe I'm lowering myself to this.'_ He flashed a few hand signs and whispered a jutsu. Sasuke slowly began to morph. When the transformation was finished, a black cat stood in place of a human.

He ran and jumped. He was able to reach the top of the wall and started running the length of it until he got to a tree with limbs that stretched over the wall. Sasuke leaped onto the nearest branch and used his claws to balance as he trotted toward the base of the tree. He then leaped to the ground silently and ran off. No one saw a thing. Sasuke looked around with a frown. He was now home - for better or worse.

He ran through the streets on all fours and took note of the ANBU members stationed on rooftops and street corners. Whoever was responsible for security must be paranoid. Getting back in again with his team would not be easy, not to mention finding his ex-teammate and getting him out of the village. That would be next to impossible. But he was powerful...he would make the impossible happen.

He would not be denied his chance at vengeance.

He made his way to the worst part of Konoha, the direction of Naruto's apartment building. He waited until the moment the moon disappeared behind the clouds. He then shifted back into a human henge and leaped up the wall to Naruto's balcony. He gave the handle a slight pull and it gave easily. _'Stupid dobe doesn't even lock the door,' _he thought to himself, not noticing he had fallen back to using his old nickname for him.

His eyes shifted into blazing red to see the room in the dark. He walked slowly through the tiny apartment. He could see, now, what his team meant. His ex-teammate hadn't been near his apartment for weeks. He opened the refrigerator and checked the date on a carton of milk. The expiration date was for 2 months ago. And the small amount of food stored in the refrigerator had become a whole new life form, making the appliance reek. He curled his lip in disgust and closed the door, then leaned against the counter with his arms crossed. He went through the possibilities in his head.

Evicted? Maybe. But even then, Karin would have sensed him somewhere.

Mission? The moonlight glinted off the headband on the table. Unless there was such a thing as a mission without weapons and a headband, not likely.

Akatsuki? If they had taken him, Madara would know and wouldn't be sending him on a wild goose chase.

Sasuke gave a low growl of frustration, angry at the lack of information, and turned to leave but suddenly found himself stuck. He couldn't move.

"Troublesome…I've caught myself a burglar. What should I do?" a voice drawled in the darkness.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, he knew that voice.

"If you're looking for Naruto, he's not here. But I'm sure you've figured that out already."

"Nara Shikamaru."

"Maa…troublesome. I'm surprised to see you here. Didn't figure you to step foot in Konoha again."

"Hn."

"Interesting henge. Figured a genius like you would come up with a better disguise. You were better off as a cat."

Sasuke frowned. He should've known the Nara genius would recognize him no matter the henge. Shikamaru appeared out of the darkness with his fingers in a very familiar position. Sasuke stared calmly at the pineapple-headed shinobi. "You can't keep that up forever you know."

The jounin snorted. "You think I'm a jounin for nothing? I'm not the same shinobi you remember. I can at least keep this up until the ANBU get here. All I have to do is flare my chakra and they'll come running. I'm sure you've noticed they're all over the place these days."

The avenger struggled to move, but he couldn't budge. Shikamaru sighed. "This is a drag. I've got more important things to worry about than you. How about you agree to tell me why you're here and I'll agree not to call the hounds."

"I don't think it's any of your concern why I'm here."

"If it concerns Naruto, it concerns me. Some of us _do_ value friendship. Besides, if that ring on your finger is any indication, I already know why you're here. I've met, and killed my share of Akatsuki. So, it wasn't enough for you to try and kill him...now you've decided on the ultimate betrayal? And he still considers you his friend…troublesome."

Sasuke's eyes flashed red. "Then he's the idiot I always thought he was. We were _never_ friends. Besides, you have no right to judge me. You know nothing!"

"I don't need to. Your presence here, with that ring as your calling card, is quite enough for me to judge you and make me not trust you."

Sasuke glared.

Shikamaru looked unconcerned. With a roll of his eyes, he sighed.

"Look Uchiha, it's too troublesome to kill you and I've got somewhere I have to be in the morning. By all counts I should just turn you in, but I think there are a few things you need to see for yourself. So how about you agree to stay with me for one day and I'll agree to let you leave at the end of it."

Sasuke snorted. "Yeah, right. Like I'd actually agree to that. Why don't YOU just tell me where the dobe is and I'll agree not to kill you."

"I don't know where he is. And you couldn't kill me anyway."

"Liar." Sasuke decided not to mention the other part.

"It's too much of a bother to lie."

Sasuke stared.

Shikamaru stared back.

Finally, the missing nin sighed and relaxed as much as he could while stuck in one position. Sasuke knew the other nin wasn't lying. If he knew, he would've just refused to give him the information. It was just how the lazy ninja worked.

He closed his eyes for a moment to think. There was no way he could go against the entire ANBU and Root squads on his own and get out of it unscathed. Plus, this was really supposed to be recon, at least for now. So he really didn't need Konoha to find out that he was here. His team would be pissed at him, but he really saw no other choice. He needed to know what was going on and this was probably the best opportunity he had to find out.

"One night?"

Shikamaru gave him a nod.

"Alright then. One night and I leave when I want. No one comes after me." Sasuke said decisively.

"I can't guarantee that. I can only guarantee that no one who is connected with our group will follow you. I cannot control anyone sent out by someone above my rank. Nor can I control Root. Only Danzou has that authority."

That name caused a growl to rumble from Sasuke's throat. It took everything he had to stop killer intent from leaking. Shikamaru watched him, somewhat surprised at his reaction. He waited out the slight fluctuation of chakra and hoped against hope that no one outside these walls lwould notice it. He wondered whom such anger was directed – him or Danzou.

Most likely Danzou. He seems the type to inspire such hatred. He should know.

"Hn…fine. Agreed."

Shikamaru held his breath. He wasn't sure if the traitor would keep his word, but he separated his fingers and released his shadow hold.

And waited…

Sasuke didn't immediately kill him and he didn't leave. Instead he walked over and sat on the rickety chair away from the light that streamed through the window.

The lazy nin breathed a sigh of relief. The Uchiha leveled his dark gaze on him. "What is going on? And what happened to the dobe?"

"Come to the ceremony in the morning and you'll find out. And not in that godawful henge. At least as that cat you won't be noticed." Sasuke rolled his eyes but nodded.

"And what am I supposed to do until then?"

Shikamaru sat on the floor across from him and smirked. "Stay here of course."

* * *

Suigetsu leaned against the rock and watched the sun rise from his position at the mouth of the cave. It was a beautiful sight. Criminal or not, he still appreciated a good sunrise. It meant the beginning of a new day. A new day meant a new chance for a good fight.

He gulped down some water from one of his bottles while the various hues brought the surroundings to life. Despite his penchant for blood and violence, there was nothing wrong with a bit of peace and quiet.

"Hey! Sasuke hasn't come back yet?" Karin yelled from deeper in the cave as she walked towards him.

_'So much for peace and quiet.'_ "Obviously not or I wouldn't be standing here." He answered and rolled his eyes. Not only was she loud, she was an idiot. If not for her ability to read chakra and take care of their injuries, she would be a complete waste of space.

"He should've been back by now."

"Way to state the obvious moron!"

"We should be looking for him!"

"No."

"But he could've gotten caught."

"True, but no."

"But…"

"Go away." He interrupted her next stupid statement with a glare.

"Hell no! You're not my boss. I don't have to listen to you."

He pulled out his oversized sword with the intent of chopping off her overgrown head. At least he wouldn't have to hear her voice anymore.

"Uh…I don't think Sasuke would like that. Besides, he specifically said not to follow him." Juugo interrupted the two.

Both heads turned in his direction. Both glared at the giant. Then they went back to glaring at each other for a moment before finally stepping away. Suigetsu put his sword away and turned back to the nature show.

Karin sighed and sat next to her sometimes hated teammate. "What do you think happened?"

"How the hell should I know?" he almost yelled in exasperation.

"Jeez! I just asked a simple question."

A yelling match ensued once again. And all Suigetsu had wanted was a little peace and quiet.

* * *

The yellow orange glow of dawn danced over the two male faces. The one on the floor started squinting because of the light in his eyes. But it was too much trouble to bother moving away from the annoyance. The one on the bed sat up in alarm at first before observing his surroundings and remembering where he was. Shikamaru groaned and stretched, wishing for a bed as his neck and back cracked in protest of the movement. Sasuke gracefully got up and went to the door he assumed housed the bathroom – he was correct of course. When he came out, it was to see Shikamaru talking to an ANBU in a hawk mask. The two stopped talking and turned to him.

Sasuke glared at Shikamaru as the nin lazily walked past him. "What? I'd have to be a real idiot to leave you alone. I still don't trust you even if we have an agreement." Shikamaru closed the bathroom door. Sasuke sat down and waited, trying to ignore the other presence in the room.

Half an hour later the ANBU presence was gone and the two sat eating apples.

"So are you going to give me a clue as to what's going on or are you going to keep me in suspense?" Sasuke asked, dark brow raised.

Shikamaru shrugged and pulled out a pack of cigarettes lighting one and taking a drag. "Things have changed around here. This isn't the Konoha you left behind."

"What do you mean?"

"Maa…you'd think an S-Class missing-nin would keep up with news."

Sasuke glared at Shikamaru, which the other ignored.

"The Godaime is dead."

"That much I knew already."

"But you don't know _who_ the Rokudaime will be."

Shikamaru took another puff and blew smoke into the air. Sasuke waited for him to elaborate.

One lazy eye flickered toward him. "You'll find out in an hour."

"You could just tell me now."

"I could. But I won't." Sasuke glared harder.

"And you can glare all you want. I won't change my mind." Shikamaru walked over to the balcony and looked out. He watched the crowd slowly migrate toward the hokage tower.

"What does this have to do with Naruto?"

He turned to look back at the Uchiha, a serious look replacing his everyday lazy one. "Everything."

It was silent for a moment as both men stared at one another. Shikamaru tossed the cigarette over the balcony without caring where it fell. "Now quit asking me questions. It's troublesome. Besides, it's time."

Sasuke nodded slightly, then morphed back into a black cat, and hopped onto the Nara's shoulder. He smothered the urge to dig his claws in the male's shoulder just to be spiteful and hung on for the ride to whatever awaited them at the ceremony.

**a/n:** Hehe, I just love Shikamaru. He's always been one of my favorite characters. I hope this one makes sense. In my mind, I think Sasuke would be rational enough to know he couldn't just fight his way out of Konoha without bringing tons of attention to himself, so he'd be better off doing as Shikamaru says if he wants to get to Naruto. Unforutnately, it's still for the wrong reasons as of now. So...wonder how Sasuke will react next chapter? And yes, this one was devoid of Naruto, but he'll be in the next one if Danzou's planning was any indication. Please review?


	6. Konoha's Greatest Secrets

**Summary:** First 9 chapters are being completely revamped as of April 2011. A new enemy rose against Konoha. Tsunade was killed trying to save Naruto, who then lost control of Kyuubi killing all the enemies and destroying a part of Konoha in the process. Danzou seized his opportunity to became Rokudaime and put Naruto into prison hoping to turn him into a weapon. Meanwhile, Team Hawk is sent to Konoha to capture the nine-tails before Pein can get to it. But Sasuke has a plan of his own. What happens when he finds out about the new Konoha and Naruto? When faced with the man behind his nightmare, what will he choose to do? Eventually SasuNaru

**Warning: ** Possible spoilers for current manga chapters if you're not keeping up.

**Disclaimer:** Obviously if I'm writing fanfiction, I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Seeking Vengeance and Finding Absolution**

**Chapter 6 - Konoha's Greatest Secrets  
**

* * *

_**(Edited 4/21/2011)**_

The crowd was huge. Every single villager and ninja alike were present for the inauguration ceremony. Shikamaru, in his infamous slouch and with hands in pockets, slowly made his way through the crowd with a black cat perched on his shoulder. He looked above and around and couldn't help but notice the thick ANBU presence. As he got closer to the tower, he saw the presence change from ANBU to Root. Eventually, he saw Chouji waiting in the middle of the thick crowd and moved toward him. Unfortunately he also saw Ino coming toward him at the same time.

"Troublesome," he muttered. Sasuke tensed upon feeling the blonde's. It was impossible to forget considering how much she tried to hang on him as a child. He instantly glared in her direction.

"Hey Shika!" she yelled loud enough for all of Konoha to hear. He groaned. He could already feel the cat on his shoulder getting antsy at the sight of his blonde teammate.

"Ino, what do you want?" Shikamaru was hoping to get away from her as soon as possible before the furry pet around his neck started feeling the urge to attack her.

"Hey! That's no way to talk to your teammate. You should be happy to see me." She yelled, glaring at her lazy teammate.

"Why should I?"

"Shikamaru..." She growled.

"Ino, leave him alone." Chouji interrupted from behind her. He was munching on a bag of chips, as usual.

"Well, he acts like he doesn't want me here." She glared with her hands on her hips.

_'I really don't,'_ he thought, but didn't say aloud. "Sorry Ino. I just really don't want to be here. This is such a pain."

"Really, I don't think any of our friends want to be here." Chouji said.

Ino nodded and then noticed the new addition on the jounin's shoulder."Uh, Shika, what's with the black cat? I always figured you'd be too lazy to get a pet."

Sasuke's claws pricked the jounin's skin, which made him jump slightly. A lazy hand reached up to rub behind the soft ears in an attempt to calm the henged ninja down. "I'm taking care of it for someone. It's a drag, but someone had to do it." Sasuke wanted to growl at the lazy nin but he couldn't. He was horrified to find that the light massage over his ears felt good...calming. He could feel his feline body relaxing. And he suddenly felt the urge to...purr? How humiliating!

"Can I pet it?"

Sasuke suddenly came out of the comfortable haze he was in. _'Hell no!'_ he thought. The lazy genius shrugged, though he smirked inwardly. "Be my guest. I'm not gonna stop you."

The moment Ino raised her hand to pet the dark fur, the cat glared and hissed loudly, his hackles raised. Ino squeaked and jumped back.

"Get that demon cat away from me Shikamaru!" she yelled and glared at him while pointing at the cat.

"Che...you're the one who wanted to pet it. Don't be mad at me because the cat doesn't like you."

"Hey Ino-pig!" She was just about to go on another rant, but at the familiar voice she turned and saw the distinctive pink hair and waved her friend over. "Hey forehead."

Sakura glared at her. Then she turned to Shikamaru, who was exerting just a bit more strength to hold down the cat with his hand. "Hey, who's cat is that?"

"Mine for now."

"When and why did the laziest ninja alive get a cat?"

"I'm cat-sitting alright. Jeez, you two are so troublesome."

Sakura smiled and awed at the furry creature. She stretched her hand out to pet the cat.

"Uh, I wouldn't do that if I were you." Ino warned. Another hiss from the cat had Sakura quickly retracting her fingers.

Sakura glared at the cat. The cat glared back with a growl.

"Hey Ino? Doesn't that cat kind of remind you of someone we used to know?"

"You mean the fact that it glares and gets mean when anyone female gets close to touching him?"

"Yeah."

"Uh huh."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Before they could say anymore a hush began to fall over the crowd.

The friends and one tensed up cat turned their attention to the balcony of the Hokage Tower. One member of the council, Homura, came forward and began to speak. It didn't take much to raise the hackles of the Uchiha cat since he'd already been pissed off at the presence of his most hated fangirls. Shikamaru kept stroking the silky cat ears. He knew the last Uchiha would kill him for it later but he knew it would keep the cat calmer. Sasuke felt that embarrassing contentment suddenly go through him again and started purring. Damn Shikamaru for using a cat's weakness! He was going to kill him.

"Welcome everyone to this momentous occasion. It is with great pleasure that I present to you, the Rokudaime Hokage of Konoha."

The village waited with baited breath to see who had taken on the position of authority. All of Naruto's friends already knew and had gotten the shock out of their systems. If not for the fact that their presence was required, they wouldn't have bothered showing up.

The moment the new hokage stepped up, donned in the traditional robes, the crowd cheered. Which was very fortunate, because the moment Sasuke-cat saw who the Rokudaime was, he hissed and screeched loudly, almost lost control over his henge and his suppressed chakra wavered slightly. Shikamaru flinched when he suddenly felt claws digging in his shoulder. He looked to his shoulder and saw the Uchiha hanging onto his control by a thread. Even the cat's eyes were starting to show a red hue.

_'Oh hell...'_ Shikamaru pulled the cat by the scruff of it's neck and dislodged him from his, now aching, shoulder. He held the shaking cat in his arms and ran his fingers from head to tail in hopes that he could calm Sasuke enough to get through the rest of this sham of a ceremony. He didn't understand what exactly the Uchiha could have against Danzou, but he had a feeling that maybe...just maybe...that grudge might work in his favor.

While the new hokage was speaking, Shikamaru kept petting and, with a sigh, looked up at the clouds. He'd already heard the oh-so-rousing 'I am your rokudaime, watch me usher the village into a new era of blah blah blah' speech. He would much rather be on his favorite hill watching the clouds right now than be forced to listen to the rhetoric of a man who could care less about the welfare of the village and was probably responsible for the disappearance of his friend. He turned to look at many of his friends and teammates that, ironically, were all in easy sight distance toward the back of the crowd. They all looked just as disturbed and ready to leave as he was.

When the speech finally ended, Shikamaru couldn't disappear with the cat quickly enough. The moment they were in Naruto's old apartment, the black cat was off his shoulder and had morphed back into Sasuke. And he was pissed off.

"WHAT THE HELL?" The traitor paced back and forth over the room. "How the _hell_ could you allow HIM to be hokage?"

"Che...don't look at me. It's not like I allowed anything. I had no choice in the matter."

Sasuke growled and kicked a chair in his way in frustration. It hit the wall and broke apart.

"Look Uchiha, obviously you don't like the man, neither do I, but try not to destroy Naruto's apartment."

Sasuke turned to him with a glare. "I'm through with this game Nara. What does Naruto have to do with any of this? I want answers now!"

Shikamaru crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall. "Troublesome. I thought you were such a genius. You should be able to figure that out yourself."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed in anger and confusion. He was about ready to last out at the other ninja, but stopped before he gave in to the urge. _'Think Sasuke.'_ He took a deep breath to calm himself before thinking over the past hours he'd been in Konoha. There was the beefed up security, led by ANBU. No, not just ANBU...Root as well. He didn't know much about the ANBU-like group, but he knew they were never seen around the village proper. They were Danzou's personal ninja force and they functioned in the underground.

And at the heart of things, as usual, was Naruto. The blond was too much of a loud mouth to just silently disappear. Someone would know where he was. And he would never ever leave the village without his headband. Besides, he was supposed to be confined to the village. Konoha would never just let him leave. He was too important to them as what would probably be their strongest weapon as the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. The council would never...let...

Sasuke's eyes went wide. He knew from Madara's ramblings that Naruto was a bit different from most jinchuuriki. Most were treated like weapons, trained from infancy on how to use their demonic powers. Orochimaru always talked of Konoha and Danzou. Sasuke listened to every word back then, even if he didn't seem like it. Danzou had been angry that the Sandaime wouldn't allow him to train the jinchuuriki. The hokage wanted him to grow up normal. Naruto was not treated like a weapon. In fact, the idiot couldn't even act like a proper ninja. The Godaime felt the same way as the Sandaime and acted as a restraint to the council's desires. But that last opposer was gone.

And Danzou had the power...

He looked up and met Shikamaru's suddenly alert gaze. Now he knew what the nin was getting at. "You think Danzou had something to do with his disappearance."

"More than think. We know he did."

"We?"

"It's bothersome, but I guess I should explain everything." Shikamaru sighed and sat on the lumpy couch. Sasuke was thinking it was about time and stood against the nearest wall with his arms crossed. "When Tsunade-sama was killed in front of him, Naruto just lost it. Anyone who still didn't know that he held the Kyuubi got a front row seat to find out the truth. By the time it was all over, the enemies had been wiped out and a small part of the village had been leveled. Sakura and Shizune healed him, then he went home. We haven't seen him since."

"And Danzou?"

"He summoned everyone jounin rank or higher. At that time, he announced his ascension to Rokudaime. Kakashi then mentioned Naruto's disappearance. Danzou said he knew about it and that it had been taken care of."

"Taken care of?" Sasuke asked with a raised. Before he could say anything more, there was a poof of smoke. When it cleared there was a small dog in the center of the room.

"Yo."

"Pakkun." Shikamaru nodded. He saw the small scroll attached to the dog collar and untied it. He read its contents before looking back at the small dog and nodding again. The dog disappeared. Alone again, he looked over at the silent Uchiha. He could almost see the wheels turning in the brunet's brain. Shikamaru sighed. He knew he was about to take a huge risk, but just like in Shogi, it was impossible to win without taking a few risks every now and then. And if this went the way he hoped it would, they might just gain a powerful ally, at least for a little while.

"Sasuke, I know it's troublesome, but you should stay…for just a little longer."

Those dark eyes narrowed. "You said one day."

"I know, I know. There's a meeting later tonight. There are a lot of people who care about what happens to Naruto, but we can only meet in secret. If you stay, you will find out everything that we know. What you do with the information after that is up to you." Shikamaru sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "Obviously, I don't like the fact that you're associated with Akatsuki of all people. But right now, the only thing important is getting Naruto out of Danzou's clutches. It'll be a drag, but I'm willing to work with you if we can accomplish that."

Sasuke stared at Shikamaru for a long moment to check for any kind of deception. Finally he answered, "You know this won't change anything. I'm only going to take him away for you." Shikamaru nodded then shrugged.

"You can try. I'll take my chances. And I'm willing to bet everyone else will too. In the end, we won't let you take him without a fight. You'll have to get through all of us to take him away, which, as you'll see tonight are quite numerous. _If_ you can somehow get through all of us by yourself, then we deserve to lose him." Shikamaru crossed his fingers. It was all up to the Uchiha now.

Sasuke couldn't believe Shikamaru was suggesting such a thing. Working together? He left this place behind. He _hated_ Konoha. He was the enemy. How could Nara even think he would be willing to work with anyone in Konoha?

And he couldn't believe he was actually thinking about taking him up on the offer.

But really, it was to his advantage. His mission was to bring the nine-tailed fox to Madara. If Danzou really did have him in his clutches, that made his mission that much more difficult. Going against Danzou now meant going against the entire village along with Root. Even he didn't like those odds. But, with Naruto's many friends on his side, he would have help getting the blond out. Once he had Naruto, he wouldn't be letting him go. He was confident in his and the rest of Hawk's abilities to be able to defeat them and get away. He was stronger than any of them after all. And he had the abilities of his sharingan.

It was perfect really. He would be able to have his revenge _and_ get the nine-tailed fox at the same time. Truthfully, he had already made his decision the moment Shikamaru brought it up.

"Deal."

* * *

It was nearly midnight when Shikamaru left the abandoned apartment with the, now ever-present, cat on his shoulder. He was completely at home moving in the shadows and he went through them effortlessly, remaining unseen by the many ANBU guards on night duty. It was slow going, but he and his companion eventually reached the secret clearing. A few members of the group were already there in the trees, he could feel their chakra though he couldn't see them. He stood against a big tree in the center of the clearing and waited for everyone else to trickle in. Sasuke jumped up into the tree branch directly above in order to lay low and listen.

In the next few minutes, ninja filtered in bit by bit. Sasuke found it strangely fascinating to see how the people he grew up with had changed. He had been too annoyed earlier to notice the changes in Ino. She had filled out some, though she still seemed to be loud and bossy. It seemed like she and Sakura were still rivals but it looked like more a friendly one. Chouji looked just like his father now and he assumed he had the famed Akimichi strength. Lee and Gai were still almost clones, but Lee had finally gotten rid of that awful spandex, trading it in for traditional jounin wear. Hinata was still quiet, but he could tell just from her demeanor that she wasn't the same shy and timid girl she had been. Shino was still...Shino. Kiba was still…well, Kiba - loud and brash. Neji, still in his ANBU gear, walked with Tenten who hadn't changed much in appearance.

Kakashi came in holding hands with…was that Iruka? If he had eyebrows as a cat, they would've raised at that. Well, guess he'd seen stranger, although he never figured Kakashi to be the type considering his love of perverted books. Truthfully, he was more shocked by the fact that his old sensei wasn't late. And there were others as well. He saw that dark haired girl who was the hokage's secretary – what was her name? Also the proctor for the final exams, he was surprised he even remembered him considering he came late. Izumo and Kotetsu were there, the third's grandson and his friends, Team 8's sensei, a few Hyuuga branch house members, a few more ANBU. That crazy proctor from the chuunin exams was pulling Ibiki with her. Last to come was his replacement, Sai. He glared, even though Sai couldn't really see him. For some reason it always irked him that he was replaced in team 7. Why it bothered him so much, he had no idea. They didn't even mean anything to him.

Neji walked over and stood next to Shikamaru. The Nara's eyes were closed, but he knew the Hyuuga was there. Without opening his eyes, he turned his head toward Neji and asked, "How long do we have?"

"It'll be two hours before shift change."

"Troublesome...we better get started then. Sai, many of the people here don't know it, but I know you're from Root." There were some gasps of dismay, but Shikamaru ignored it and went on. "As such, you're probably our best chance for information."

"He's one of them? How can we trust anything he says? He could be spying for them right now and end up getting us all in trouble." Some unknown ninja asked.

"He wouldn't do that." Sakura answered. He's one of us...a member of Team Kakashi. And Naruto is not only his teammate, but his friend. He wouldn't betray him like that."

"Look, we don't have time for this," Shikamaru interrupted. "I trust him, Team Kakashi trusts him. That's enough for me for now. Sai, I need you to tell us anything you can about Danzou and Root."

Sai stared at him for a moment before he opened his mouth. "I can't."

Sakura growled. "What? Are you kidding? I just vouched for you, but you can't talk?"

"No, it's not like that. I mean I literally can't tell you anything about Danzou."

"Huh?"

Kakashi stepped up next to his teammate. "He did something to you didn't he? To make sure you _can't_ talk."

Sai nodded and opened his mouth. The moonlight was enough for Kakashi, Shikamaru and Neji to see the seal that was on the Root nin's tongue.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru sighed.

Neji frowned and shook his head. He understood as well as anyone what it was like to be trapped by a seal.

"Hey!" Kiba growled. "What are you two talking about? Is he going to talk or what?"

"He can't." Kakashi replied. Before there was an uproar, he explained. "Danzou made sure he can't."

Sai looked at everyone and gave a fake smile before he spoke. "After training is completed, Root members are given a curse seal by Danzou-sama in order to protect the village's secrets. If I try to say anything at all about him, my entire body will go numb and I'll be paralyzed."

"Well, shit!" Kiba's dismay was emulated by everyone. "Now what?"

Shikamaru was silent and in his thinking pose. A moment later, he looked at Sai. Sai's eyes widened slightly at the look he was given.

"What?"

"You can't talk about Danzou. But, let's say you can talk around the subject. If we ask the right questions, you can give us a yes or no, right?"

Sai blinked. "I...I'm not sure."

"Well, it's worth a try, I think." Kakashi said with a slight smile. "Anything is a help." The group crowded in, but didn't speak. They mutually decided to let the three ninja handle the questioning.

"How about this then...Is Naruto in prison?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yes."

"Konoha prison?" Kakashi asked.

"No." Kakashi nodded. So now they knew Danzou had his own special prison at Root. "I can tell you about the prison...I think..." The copy nin gestured for Sai to continue. "Iit's not just any prison. If you don't know anything about the levels of the Konoha prison, there are 4. Level 1 is for light sentencing, usually first offense criminals. Level 2 is for those with a bit heavier offenses. Level 3 and 4 are for the big offenders – murderers, traitors, S-Class missing nins, and so on. Naruto isn't on any of those levels."

"So then where is he?" Genma asked. Most of the ninja shared Genma's look of confusion.

"He's down in the next level isn't he?" Kakashi quietly asked. Sai nodded. Kakashi elaborated for everyone else, "No one knows about those. The only reason I know about them is because I overheard the third and Danzou in a heated argument about it once. Danzou had it built for criminals deemed too dangerous to be around anyone. However, the third always had a feeling it was made for only one individual."

"Naruto..." Iruka whispered.

"That is correct." Sai confirmed. "I've never seen it but I've heard about it. There is only one small cell and the whole thing is reinforced with thick steel and hundreds of seals imbedded unseen in the cell that activate as soon as the prisoner passes through the door. The moment that person steps into the room their chakra is sucked out."

"But why would they put Naruto there? He's not even close to being a criminal." Ino asked.

"He's not there because he a criminal. He's there because Danzou has a plan." Kakashi answered.

"Eh? What kind of plan?" Sakura asked.

"The moment the Kyuubi was sealed into Naruto, Danzou wanted to train him." Kakashi interjected. "The third refused to give in to Danzou's demands to take Naruto into Root. He wanted Naruto to grow up as normally as possible."

The discussion prevented them from noticing a black cat jump from a tree and land on the ground behind them.

"Hmm, so Danzou still wants Naruto." Neji mused aloud.

"He doesn't want Naruto as much as he wants a weapon." A quiet yet strong voice spoke from the shadows.

Murmurs rose among the group. Many went into fighting stances thinking they were infiltrated by one of Danzou's goons. However, to Sakura, the voice was familiar. She stared intently into the darkness.

"Sasuke-kun?" she whispered.

The whole clearing suddenly went silent. Sakura slowly walked toward the tree. Everyone's eyes followed her.

"Sasuke-kun is it really you?"

Sasuke walked out from the trees. The moonlight caught his pale face. The sight of him right of the midst of them had everyone shocked. Most of the ninja brought out their weapons, ready to strike at the traitor. But Sakura only walked closer. Her eyes wandered over his face, happily memorizing his handsome features.

"It really is you." She smiled softly and moved forward.

Sasuke had no warning before he felt a powerful punch to the stomach and flew back past the direction he just came from. He slammed into a tree and caused it to make a deep imprint. The cracking sound was heard all over the clearing. Everyone sweatdropped as Sakura grinned, wiped her hands and walked back to her original spot. Sasuke hadn't even moved yet, still shocked that Sakura even hit him, let alone the fact that she could pack such a wallop. His respect for her actually rose a notch. He slowly pulled himself out of the tree and, with as much diginity as he could muster, walked back to the group.

Shikamaru sighed and gave a half-hearted glare to the Tsunade clone, not as upset b her display as she should be. "Are you trying to get us caught Sakura?"

"Heh...sorry." Though she wasn't all that sorry, she rubbed the back of her head in an almost embarrassed manner. She must've been hanging around Naruto too long. "But none of you can say that he didn't deserve it."

No one disagreed there.

"Well, if you're finished, maybe we can get back to business now."

"Actually, before that, I'd like to know what HE is doing here." Kiba growled pointing at the missing-nin.

"I invited him."

"You what?" Kiba yelled before his mouth was covered by Hinata. "Are you out of your mind?" He now hissed since he was forcefully reminded that he couldn't yell. "This is the same person who left Naruto to die. He's a missing nin. If anything, we should be taking him to the hokage."

"Do you really want to take him there?" Shikamaru asked. "He's more useful to us here. He's probably our best chance to get to Naruto."

"But why should we trust him? We're his friends. He's the one who betrayed Naruto and left. We don't need him."

A hand on his shoulder stopped him from going on.

"Kiba, wait." Hinata squeezed his shoulder and spoke up with quiet authority.

"But Hina-"

"Kiba, Shika's right. We can't help Naruto alone. We can hardly walk around Konoha without being watched like hawks."

"So? What can he do that we can't?"

"Kiba, he is invisible right now. He can do pretty much anything he wants." Shino quietly added.

"Huh?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Baka. Use your head. No one knows that he's here. Even though we have some of the ANBU on our side, we're constantly being watched. However, they won't be looking for _him_." He turned back to Sai. "Is there anything else you can tell us about Naruto that won't get you in trouble?"

"Well, I don't know if this is true or not, but I've heard rumors that Naruto is being tortured. Some kind of memory altering jutsu or something. I've never heard of it before. I couldn't hear for sure the type of jutsu…something like black memory."

A gasp was heard to the right of him. Kurenai had turned a bit pale, her eyes wide with fear. "Kuro kioku jutsu." She whispered in disbelief.

"Huh?" Kiba looked over at his sensei.

"Kuro kioku jutsu. Black remembrance. It's a genjutsu. It's considered a forbidden justu because of what it does. I've never seen or experienced it, but I've heard it makes someone relive their worst memories over and over again."

Sasuke clenched his fists. He'd dealt with enough reminders of the massacre thanks to Itachi. He wouldn't wish that experience on anyone. Even Naruto.

"It goes through every single memory in a person's life, finds the absolute worst ones and makes you feel like you're going through it all over again. It can even make the memories worse. The jutsu can go on as long as the caster deems, depending on how much chakra that person has. If one has enough chakra, it could go on for a solid week non-stop."

"No…anything but that. Naruto can't deal with that." Iruka was beside himself. Kakashi wrapped an arm around him in order to try and calm him down. "It would kill him."

"Oh come on. How bad can his memories really be? He's probably the happiest idiot in Konoha." Kiba joked. No one laughed. Instead, one of the ANBU members in a cat mask came forward.

"That's not true. I was one of the ANBU assigned by the Third to guard Naruto when he was a child. There were at least 100 assassination attempts on him before he reached the age of 4."

"But…why? He was just a child. He couldn't hurt anyone." Ino asked.

"You have to understand," Kakashi explained, "the village was devastated by the Kyuubi attack. Everyone lost loved ones, some of the clans were decimated. Once they knew that the fox of their nightmares wasn't dead, but sealed in a child, they took out their sadness, anger and frustration on what they could see…Naruto. To them, he became the demon of their nightmares. The Sandaime tried to counter it by making a law that anyone caught assaulting him would be punished. But that only did so much. He couldn't keep track of every little incident. And he couldn't imprison all of Konoha."

The clearing was quiet as many contemplated their friend. They always thought of Naruto as the happy-go-lucky goofball who loved pranks and ramen. To find out he went through so much was a surprise.

An ANBU with a bird mask continued. "I first encountered Naruto when he was 4 years old. The orphanage had thrown him out when he was three without the hokage's knowledge. The last 6 months he had been on the street trying to survive on his own."

All eyes widened in disbelief at the thought of a four year old Naruto on the streets fending for himself.

Another masked ANBU, this one male, stepped forward. "Even though we were assigned to guard him, none of us could be there all the time. We still had other missions. I personally believed the council liked to keep us busy on purpose to prevent us from protecting the boy. When we weren't around to stop it, the villagers and even other shinobi would beat him practically to death with whatever they could use as a weapon – kunai, shuriken, knives, rocks, wood, anything. We'd find the poor kid with bones broken all over his body."

Some of the females had tears in their eyes already. They suddenly realized how little they knew about their friend's life. He never looked any less than happy so they took it for granted that he was fine. Obviously all was very much _not_ fine and he hidden it all from them so easily.

Kurenai stepped forward and broke the silence. "In light of this, I think there's something that all of you need to know, including you." She added, directing that last part to Sasuke.

Sasuke raised a brow. What information could she possible have for him?"

"Shizune came to my house after Danzou kicked her out of the hokage tower. She had two files with her. One was the file of Uzumaki Naruto. The other was the file of Uchiha Itachi."

"How did you get those without getting caught?" Shikamaru asked.

"Tsunade-sama and I made copies of the files and kept the originals. She never trusted Danzou. So she kept the originals in her own personal files. I overheard Danzou's plan to burn the files. Fortunately, the files were in Tsunade's personal things, since I was able to take her personal items with me. I'm sure he's already burned the copies thinking they were the originals." Shizune answered.

"I read the files. Needless to say, I was stunned. What I will reveal tonight will probably change everything you think about the village we pledged our lives to." Kurenai continued.

"Go on." Shikamaru urged.

Kurenai exchanged a look with Shizune before going on. "Naruto's file includes his medical records, his heritage and some decrees made by the third. His mother was originally from Whirlpool Country. Her name was Kushina Uzumaki. She was a shinobi of Konoha up until she died in childbirth. His father was quite a shock and probably the best kept secret in Konoha…Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage."

"What?" Everyone but Kakashi and Shizune's mouths dropped open in astonishment. Even Sasuke's.

Kurenai nodded and went on. "After the sealing, the third made a decree that no one know of his heritage. Those who knew were sworn to secrecy. Even Naruto was not to be told until he became a jounin. Also, the Fourth wanted his son to be hailed as a hero. But as you can see, that didn't happen. Since the day of his birth, there have been over 200 assassination attempts, countless hundreds of assaults, about 20 instances of arson and..." She stopped, not wanting to go on.

"And?" Shikamaru prompted.

Kurenai sighed. She was apprehensive of announcing something so personal. "Sexual assaults...He's been raped, more than once," She whispered almost as if it would make it less painful to speak of or hear.

Every person who didn't know the history of Uzumaki Naruto were stunned into silence. Many of Naruto's closest friends were struggling to stop their killer intent from leaking out. Hinata was in tears and wrapped in the arms of her sensei. Sakura and Ino both had their hand over their mouths while tears leaked from their eyes.

The cat ANBU looked around at the sad and angry faces. "I know this has made everyone angry. This was not my intent when I brought it up. But now you finally understand just a bit of what it's like for him. Naruto wasn't quite the person you thought he was. He put on his smiles for all of you. He didn't want you to worry about him."

"Stupid baka!" Sakura cried.

"Oh, Naruto-kun." Hinata whispered sadly.

"There's more." Kakashi stated. His arms were full of his distraught lover. "Some memories Naruto's mind locked them away on its own. However, some of the things Naruto went through were so horrible, the memories were making him unstable. So the third used a jutsu to block the absolute worst memories. If those memories are unleashed..."

Kakashi didn't have to finish. Everyone understood.

"Which is probably exactly what Danzou wants." Shikamaru thought aloud.

Sasuke had his head down so no one could see his emotions. He wanted to scream that it was all lies. It had to be. It would be easier if he could believe that. But no one would make up something like this. His hands hurt from his fingers digging in his palms. Once he said that he Naruto didn't understand his pain. He still felt it was true. However, now he knew that he would never understand what Naruto went through either. He didn't know how the blond survived. And how in the world could he smile every day - even if it was sometimes face - like everything was great?

Now it only gave him more reason to want to kill Danzou and the council.

And then he was reminded of the genjutsu mistress' words.

"What about Itachi's file?" He asked.

"Who cares about him?" Kiba grumbled loudly enough for everyone to hear. Ino and Sakura smacked him over the head. "Shit!"

Kurenai sighed and prepared to tell another tale that disgusted her. "Just as we weren't told the true story of the Kyuubi attack, we also weren't told the truth of the Uchiha massacre. Itachi killed his clan. But it was by order of the council. The Uchiha clan were planning a coup. The Sandaime tried to peacefully resolve their differences. Because of Itachi's position as ANBU captain, Uchiha Fugaku asked him to spy on Konoha. He informed the Sandaime of his father's orders. Because he was present at the clan meetings, the council wanted him to spy on his clan. In the end, he became a double agent. When things eventually came to a head, the council gave the order to eliminate the clan. He followed the order, except for one thing." She looked up. Her eyes bored into the last Uchiha's. "He couldn't kill his younger brother. He threatened to kill Danzou if anything happened to Sasuke and he swore the council and the hokage to secrecy. No one, especially Sasuke, was to know of the truth."

"So all this time we considered him a traitor when he was just following orders?" Sakura asked before glancing over at Sasuke to see his reaction. She was surprised to see no emotion from him. His face was completely blank.

"Yes." Sasuke answered Sakura's question, then he looked at Kurenai. "I already knew this. I found out after he...died." Sasuke wouldn't admit it, but he still had a hard time talking about killing his brother now that he knew the truth.

"There is more in the file that you don't know." She continued on. "Itachi was given one last mission by the third, one that not even the council knew anything about. It wasn't in his files. Instead, it was sealed in a scroll that could only be opened by the next hokage. His mission was to infiltrate Akatsuki and find out their intentions."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

Shizune added her input. "There was an addendum to the mission once it was known exactly what Akatsuki was up to. It just happened to work out that Itachi ended up being assigned to the nine-tailed fox. Or, who knows, maybe he found a way to make sure it would turn out that way. Either way, it was perfect for him to accomplish his new mission: To keep Akatsuki from obtaining the nine-tailed fox."

Sasuke eyes went wide. That wasn't possible. It couldn't be true. He glared at the former secretary. "No. You're lying."

Shizune raised her head stubbornly and stared down the Uchiha. "I have the scroll with the seal and signature of the hokage. I am not lying."

"But that doesn't make sense. He was always after Naruto. He tried to capture him more than once. He almost killed Kakashi-sensei." Sakura spoke up.

"Almost is the key. Did you ever see him kill anyone from Konoha? Do you really think, Sakura, that Itachi couldn't have taken Naruto anytime he wanted?"

Sakura thought about it. Yes, Kakashi had been hurt, but he hadn't died from the encounter. Neither did the other three jounin that met him that day in the village. Naruto told her about the day Itachi and Kisame showed up at his hotel room. Jiraiya somehow came back at the perfect time to prevent them from taking Naruto. When they were going after Gaara and met Itachi on the way, he never really fought them, not seriously. Looking back, she understood that had he wanted he could've completely overpowered them and took Naruto away. Naruto met him alone int he forest. They didn't even fight. They talked. Sure, Naruto had grown stronger, but not enough to be close to Itachi's prowess. Yet, Naruto was never captured. She never thought of it before now...but taking Naruto should've been easy for someone who had killed his entire clan at the age of 13.

Sasuke, meanwhile, was haunted by his own thoughts. He wanted to deny it. But he knew he would be lying to himself. He'd seen and felt the full brunt of Itachi's power. If Itachi had truly wanted to capture Naruto, he could've done it at any time. If he had truly wanted to kill him and Kakashi, he could have. The truth was staring him in the face. He wanted to look away, but he couldn't deny the truth. He knew that Itachi did everything in his life for the good of Konoha and for him. It would only be right that he would protect the Konoha jinchuuriki.

He shook his head and began to chuckle. This was wrong. Everything was so wrong. His mission was supposed to be simple - grab the nine-tailed fox, leave, bring him to Madara. He shouldn't be here. He shouldn't be listening to these lies being spun. He heard everything he needed to about Konoha from Madara. He didn't need to know anything else. He was a member of Akatsuki. He had three teammates that followed him faithfully. He had a relative who was willing to give him all the power he desired. He had revenge in his grasp. This was the path he had chosen for himself and he planned to follow it to the end. All he had to do was get the Kyuubi and leave. But the _Kyuubi _was in _Naruto_.

Konoha betrayed the Uchiha clan. But they also betrayed their own Hokage by their treatment of Naruto. Itachi lived to protect him. But he also lived to protect Naruto. How could he choose? His head was spinning with too many thoughts. His chuckles slowly turned into hysterical laughter. And he couldn't stop. He doubled over and fell to his knees, the laughs eventually turned to harsh sobs, while tears unknowingly escaped from his tightly closed lids.

Everyone in the clearing looked at him like he had lost it.

Shikamaru could see what was happening and figured he better wrap things up and get him out of there. But first…

He nodded to Kakashi who was closest. The copy ninja knocked Sasuke out. He sighed. "I think we should reconvene tomorrow night at the same time and discuss possible strategies." Everyone nodded their heads in agreement and disappeared into the night one by one.

Only Kakashi, Iruka, Shikamaru, and the unconscious Uchiha were left. All three of them looked down solemnly at the unconscious figure.

"Want me to take him?" Kakashi offered. Shikamaru shook his head.

"Nah. I've got him. He's better off with me. Besides, I'm sure he'll be back to his old troublesome self when he awakens." He lifted the thin ninja over his shoulder and disappeared.

* * *

Danzou, still garbed in his ceremonial hokage robes, walked with renewed purpose deep down into the prisons. He only had one goal. One purpose. It was to make Uzumaki Naruto break. He would make that boy break and he didn't care what he had to do, short of killing him. The two Root members on guard stood at attention as he got closer. One of them opened the door and closed it behind the leader. He walked down the dark hallway. Soon he was met by the Root assigned to watch Naruto.

"Well?" he asked.

"He still hasn't cracked. I've done all I can."

"I see. I'm not surprised. The boy has always had fortitude and stubbornness on his side. You're dismissed. I will take things to the next level myself." The ninja gave his superior a bow and turned and walked the opposite direction. Danzou continued deeper into the lower prisons. The next two Root guards he met were guarding the cell. They saw their leader and stood stiffly at attention. He looked inside the square opening and observed his charge for a moment. Then he nodded to the taller one who, at the nod, pulled out the key and opened the cell. Afterward, he stepped back into his position.

Danzou stepped inside. The heavy door closed behind him with an ominous sound that echoed inside and outside cell.

The blond was thin and filthy. The clothes he wore hung off of him like rags. His hair hung limp and greasy over his face.

Naruto didn't need to look up to see who his guest was. He slowly raised his exhausted eyes to glare at his captor.

"Are you here to torture me some more? Do your worst."

Danzou gave the boy a smirk that told of horrible things to come.

"Oh I will...Don't doubt it."


	7. Tale of a Broken Soul

**Summary:** First 9 chapters are being completely revamped as of April 2011. A new enemy rose against Konoha. Tsunade was killed trying to save Naruto, who then lost control of Kyuubi killing all the enemies and destroying a part of Konoha in the process. Danzou seized his opportunity to became Rokudaime and put Naruto into prison hoping to turn him into a weapon. Meanwhile, Team Hawk is sent to Konoha to capture the nine-tails before Pein can get to it. But Sasuke has a plan of his own. What happens when he finds out about the new Konoha and Naruto? When faced with the man behind his nightmare, what will he choose to do? Eventually SasuNaru

** a/n: **Finally! Another chapter. And you'll be happy to know I've already started on Chapter 8 so you might get the next one a bit quicker. Thank you so much for your reviews and for sticking with me as I slowly plod along with this story. Trying to juggle four stories is not that easy when you work every day. I hope you enjoy reading. :)

**Warning: ** Possible spoilers for current manga chapters if you're not keeping up. Violence...mentions/descriptions of beatings and rape. Nothing too graphic but just FYI

**Disclaimer:** Obviously if I'm writing fanfiction, I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Seeking Vengeance and Finding Absolution**

**Chapter 7 - Tale of a Broken Soul  
**

* * *

_**(Edited 4/25/2011)**_

_Centered Italics = Memories_

**x x x**

When Sasuke woke up, Shikamaru was standing above him. A flash of annoyance crossed his pale face and he immediately glared at the other nin. He hated when people hovered over him. It reminded him of his time with Orochimaru. He would always wake up with either him or his lackey, Kabuto, standing over him.

Shikamaru handed him a thick folder. "Shizune left this," he said. "Since it concerns you, she thought you should have the chance to read it."

Sasuke nodded and took the folder and sat up. He tried to ignore the uncomfortable feeling he had of knowing practically the entire ninja force of Konoha saw him in a moment of weakness. It made him angry.

"Maa...it's no big deal. It could've happened to any of us." Shikamaru remarked with a smirk. He knew exactly what the Uchiha was thinking. Sasuke looked up and returned the smirk with a glare. His features returned to their blank state as he looked down at the folder in his hands.

This file would show him who his brother really was. Itachi had always been an enigma to him. Even now, after his death and after the all the information given to him by Madara, he was no closer to understanding his brother.

Shikamaru's lips twitched into a lazy smile as he slumped into a chair and lazily watched while Sasuke slowly flipped from one page to the next. It was almost funny. They were complete opposites – one slouched, the other sat regally – yet they both were considered geniuses. He sighed and scratched his chest. He was so bored. What he wouldn't give for a game of Shogi right now.

An hour went by and Sasuke was still deep into reading. Shikamaru heard his stomach growling impatiently for food. _'Troublesome...'_ He sighed, stood up and stretched with a low groan. Looking over at the preoccupied nuke-nin, he debated over the pros and cons of what he was thinking of doing. He knew that leaving the Uchiha alone was not exactly proper protocol in this situation, but he was hungry and there was nothing edible in Naruto's fridge or cabinets. And there was no way in hell he would eat instant ramen unless the world was ending and there was nothing else to eat. But, he couldn't risk asking someone to bring food to Naruto's apartment. There's no way ANBU or Root wouldn't notice that. But leaving him here...

Well, guess he would just have to trust the dark ninja, even if it was against his better judgment.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

"Not really." Sasuke mumbled. He hardly paid attention.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. That was another thing they both had in common. Neither of them were much for talking, although it was that way for different reasons. He was too lazy to put forth the effort, while Sasuke was just a typical anti-social Uchiha. "What do you like?"

"Onigiri, tomatoes." Sasuke answered automatically, without conscious thought.

"Alright, I'm going to get us some food. I'll be right back." He closed the door and set a few traps that he hoped would slow down the sharingan user if he tried to leave.

Sasuke looked up as soon as the shadow ninja left. He knew the leaf nin had set up traps to keep him there. Turning on his sharingan, he saw that they were simple, yet effective. _'Not bad Nara._' He could get through them, but it would take time and it would alert others.

But, he hadn't planned on leaving anyway. He refused to leave now...not until he knew the full truth and it would take a few more hours to read Itachi's file for that. Besides, there was still the question of what to do about the dobe. His original plan had been to get in, kill Danzou, take Naruto, and leave the way he came. However, he hadn't planned on the man becoming hokage and doubling the security all over Konoha. Nor was he planning on Naruto being imprisoned where the sun didn't shine. It was going to be quite a task just to get Naruto. Killing Danzou at this point might just be impossible. He'd probably be better off just getting the Kyuubi to Akatsuki and waiting to get his revenge when they came back to destroy Konoha.

And then there was his team... Leaving the three of them alone was probably not one of his smarter ideas. They were undisciplined. Karin and Suigetsu would most likely argue and resort to physical blows the entire time. Knowing them, they'd end up making Juugo lose it with their violence. He thought about it and decided he better send them a message about his whereabouts before they killed each other. He summoned a small snake. The green snake that appeared might be small, but it stood to its full height of eight inches and glared at Sasuke with annoyance. "What do you want?"

Sasuke glared right back and exerted his authority. "Chiisaiko,you will take a message to my team."

"Why should I."

Sasuke picked up the snake between his thumb and forefinger squeezing just enough to be painful but not enough to crush it. "Because I order you to."

Chiisaiko glared again and hissed at being ordered. "Where are they?"

"You will find them in the caves outside the village. You already know their chakra, just search for it once you're about five miles outside the village walls. When you find them, tell them I will be staying in Konoha for a few days, but to be ready if I call for them. That is all."

With one last hiss of annoyance at his task, the snake disappeared.

* * *

Neji, in his eagle mask, had just come back from his assignment when he saw Shikamaru slowly walking down the street. He landed next to the lazy looking jounin. "What are you doing out here?" He asked quietly so no one would overhear. Shikamaru turned his head just slightly.

"Getting food."

"Have you lost it Nara? What about your roommate?" Shikamaru shrugged.

"It's not like he's going anywhere."

"How can you be so sure?"

"He's too busy reading."

"Reading what? You ou could be a bit more forthcoming, you know."

Shikamaru sighed. "It's too troublesome."

Neji growled. "I don't trust him." Shikamaru stopped and turned his full attention on the Hyuuga.

"And you think I do? What other choice do we have? I know you don't like it. But unless you can think of something better, he's all we've got. I'm not happy about it, but it is what it is. And we'll deal with it. Now, quit interrupting my food run and go turn in your report before someone we both know has a fit."

Neji rolled his eyes and shook his head with a chuckle at his friend's dismissal and disappeared.

Shikamaru looked around and sighed when he noticed that, because of Neji, he passed his destination. _'Such a drag.'_

He reversed his direction.

* * *

Sasuke's head was still buried in the folder when Shikamaru walked back in with two bags. The Uchiha didn't even acknowledge his presence, which was just fine with him at the moment. He wanted nothing better than to eat in peace. One bag he placed on the table in front of the preoccupied ninja. Then he sat down with his rice and chicken and began to eat.

"No drink?" Sasuke asked without looking up.

Shikamaru reached in the bag and tossed him a bottled water without a word. Sasuke caught it, opened it, and took a sip. Then he reached into the bag and took out the package of onigiri, opened it with one hand and grabbed one to nibble on, all without his eyes leaving the page.

One genius watched the other. He thought back to Sasuke's sudden actions last night. He wondered about his fellow rookie's sanity. How much more would it take to push the Uchiha over the edge?

'_Troublesome…'_ Who would've thought that everything behind the Uchiha Massacre was a lie? Well, honestly, he always figured there had to be more to it than what they all knew as children. But to find out that Uchiha Itachi was only following orders, that the Uchiha clan had planned a coup, that Itachi had done everything for the sake of their village was not what he had in mind. He had always pictured the older Uchiha as a 13 year old who cracked under the strain of the clan and ninja responsibilities, or that maybe the whole massacre had been some form of initiation into Akatsuki or something...but nothing like this. It was strange to think of Uchiha Itachi as one of the good guys.

He glanced, once again, at the younger version in front of him.

How ironic was it that he joined the same criminal organization _willingly_ that his brother was given the long term mission to join in order to protect Konoha from the inside? What had to be going through his mind?

Itachi didn't betray Konoha at all...yet Sasuke, so caught up in his hatred, did, and for reasons that now didn't exist. And now he was after the one jinchuuriki that Itachi had been charged with protecting.

It was laughable.

It was tragic.

For someone who was touted as such a genius, Uchiha Sasuke truly was an idiot. It was funny...they had always taunted Naruto for charging into situations without thinking. But that was exactly what the Uchiha had done. Granted, he had no idea what Itachi told Sasuke as a child when he saw his brother killing their family. Whatever it was, Sasuke had become so blinded by hate and revenge, he never thought of 'what if'.

There are no absolutes in this world. There are _always_ shades of gray. Unfortunately, Sasuke lived his life in black and white. His world was one where Itachi was guilty of killing the clan, therefore Sasuke should kill him...That in order to kill Itachi he needed power and he needed it immediately, therefore it was ok to run off to a traitor if it would give him what he wanted.

Now, his decisions were starting to come back to haunt him.

He sighed and got up to take a seat against the wall. Grabbing his pouch, he pulled out his weapons, deciding now would be a good time to sharpen them. It's not like there was any scintillating conversation going on between him and Sasuke anyway. While he sharpened his kunai, he resumed his thinking. The revelation of Naruto's heritage didn't surprise him. What _did_ surprise him was that more people hadn't questioned it. It had been on his mind since Naruto had come back from his three year training trip. Sure there were a few differences, and the orange could easily blind someone into thinking differently, but you stand him up next to a picture of the Fourth and they're practically twins. Naruto's eyes were more of a vibrant blue, the spikes were a bit more golden, but the resemblance was too close not to question it...even more so now that he was older. He was sure that most of the village just buried their heads in Suna's sand so that they could ignore the possibility.

But why would that information be kept from him? With the relationship he had with the Sandaime and the Godaime, he would've figured they would tell him. There was also the Toad Sannin and Kakashi...they were the Fourth's teacher and student respectively. They had to know. Well Jiraiya-sama definitely had to know. Kakashi, at least, should have suspected. Sure, back when he was younger, Naruto was a bit of a brag and a loudmouth. But he had a feeling it was caused by the lack of attention he received growing up. It was as if he was trying to make up for receiving no attention by getting as much attention as he could, even if it was the wrong kind. Naruto had grown out of that stage quite a while ago.

Shikamaru sighed once again. This was too much of a bother to continue thinking about.

* * *

Karin stared out of the mouth of the cave with her hands on her hips and sighed. It had been another full day and her Sasuke-kun still had not returned. She had half a mind to leave the other two behind and search for him. _'How dare he leave me here with that oaf!'_

Said oaf was just walking out from the cave. "Still waiting like a lovesick puppy?"

"Shut up."

"You're so pathetic."

"I said shut up!"

"You know, he could care less about you."

"That's it! I'm gonna kick yo-" She felt something tickling up her ankle and looked down to see a small snake wrapped around it. "What the hell?" She glared down at the offending reptile.

"Ah...must be one of Sasuke's." Suigetsu remarked, silently hoping the snake would bite her.

She growled and grabbed the snake by the tail pulling it off of her ankle and glaring at it. "Stupid garden snake. I should kill you."

"How dare you, insignificant human! I am in no way associated with those weaklingsss." Chiisaiko hissed out.

A large hand from behind Karin plucked the small snake from her hands.

"Juugo! Give that thing back so I can squash it."

The gentle giant ignored her and looked at the creature in his hand. "You are one of Sasuke's summons?"

"Yesss."

"And what does our fearless leader want?" Suigetsu asked as he leaned on his sword.

"He's staying in the village and said to be ready when he calls for you."

"What do you mean he's staying? I KNEW we should've gone with him."

"Shut up Karin, you're giving us all a headache, including the snake."

"I'll give that snake an even bigger headache." She threatened trying to grab the snake from Juugo's grasp.

Chiisaiko, disappeared in a poof of smoke, not wanting to be faced with the wrath of the red haired woman any longer.

Juugo smiled and turned away, content with getting a short message from the stoic avenger. When he joined the group, he did it to see if Sasuke was as strong as Kimimaro said he was. His friend had been correct in his assessment. Sasuke was strong. Very strong. However, it didn't take much to see that he was a lost soul. It was in the young avenger's eyes. At the beginning, there was so much hate and anger driving him. After he killed his brother, there was a great deal of sadness. Until Madara fed his mind more poison. Now, it was almost impossible to read the myriad of emotions...anger, hatred, pain, confusion, resignation... It was as if he didn't know where to go from there. He was sure that it was exactly what the leader of Akatsuki wanted.

He didn't trust Madara. Neither did the rest of the group. Actually, he didn't think even Sasuke trusted him all that much. He'd heard whispers from the animals about his plans. And Sasuke was thick in the middle of it. But he'd put them in the position of having to follow the man after they'd failed to capture the eight tails. Besides, he could tell that Sasuke needed to have a goal, some reason to carry on after he'd lost his reason for revenge. Madara fed on that and gave him something new to fixate on - Konoha. And Sasuke sucked up all the stories - true or false - like a sponge. Soon he was bent on revenge again and none of them could convince him otherwise. He wanted so badly to tell his lost companion to open his eyes and truly _see_ what he was doing to himself. Sasuke's soul was slowly being ripped apart. From the moment they were assigned to capture the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, Sasuke's thoughts had been conflicted. He was sure there was some sort of past between them.

Whatever it is, he hoped that Sasuke would make the right decision.

* * *

The sun was close to setting when Sasuke finally finished his brother's file. Afterward, he closed his eyes and sighed while he tried to make sense of the things he now knew about Konoha...about Itachi...about Naruto.

Konoha, from what he had seen, was now rotten to the core...starting with its kage. Did the decay of this place start with Danzou? Or even farther back? Maybe even back to the beginning?

Itachi had done so much for this place. Too much. Konoha didn't deserve it. This place would never even know of his many sacrifices. Why was he willing to give so much of himself for a place so undeserving? In his opinion, Itachi shouldn't have bothered. To him, it seemed like those who made the most sacrifices always got screwed in the end. Like Itachi.

Like Naruto.

He always fought for this place with a vengeance. He was willing to do anything to protect the village and his friends. Meanwhile, the unappreciative villagers made his life hell, the council treated him as a monster and now they had him caged up like one. He was sure the dobe didn't have a clue about his parents. The council probably kept that from him too. How could he still love this place he called home when the people here held such hatred for him?

He felt his anger grow again, this time not only for what happened to his brother, but also for what had happened and was still happening to Naruto.

But now what?

What was he supposed to _do_?

He was sent here to grab Naruto and bring him to Akatsuki. But for what? To die? So he could be the last piece of an elaborate and dangerous puzzle for him and Madara to use to destroy Konoha? A tool...Danzou was already treating him as one. He hated Danzou...but wouldn't he be just as bad as him if he went through with this?

'_I warn you...don't kill Naruto...You'll end up regretting it.'_

Sasuke clenched his fist at the sudden recollection of Kyuubi's warning to him.

Did he really want Naruto to die? He really had no reason to kill Naruto anymore. He'd killed his brother. He'd gotten the Mangekyou Sharingan. His only goal now was to avenge his brother by destroying Konoha.

But now he had a large group of people in a clearing that had just proved to him that they hadn't known about the circumstances surrounding Itachi and the death of his family. Up to now, he was able to justify his future actions by assuming that the entire village knew about it. Yet, so many of the shinobi last night looked disgusted by the news.

People needed to pay...not just for the death of his family, but for his brother's death, for Naruto's horrible life, for his own fragile sanity. But could he really justify destroying the entire village? Itachi had been willing to sacrifice everything for Konoha, for him, and even for Naruto. By doing this, wouldn't he be undermining everything Itachi wanted? Wouldn't he be operating entirely against his brother's wishes?

Madara, on the other hand, wanted him to go completely _against_ what Itachi fought for?

Who was really the enemy here?

'_He equipped you with his own jutsu, as a last ditch effort to kill me. Or perhaps his intention was simply to keep me away from you.'_

Why was he only remembering those words now? There had to be a reason his last act before his death was to protect him from Madara. What did Itachi know that he didn't?

Sasuke opened his eyes. He glanced over at his only companion dozing on the floor. He doubted Shikamaru was actually asleep with him there.

"What do you want?" Shikamaru asked without opening his eyes. Sasuke's eyes widened just slightly.

"What?"

"You were staring at me, I could tell. I'm assuming you want something."

"I need to get into the Uchiha compound."

The Nara genius sighed and opened his eyes finally. "What a drag. I should've known it wouldn't be something simple. Why do you need to get in there?"

"I need some information."

Shikamaru wondered what the Uchiha needed so badly. He knew enough to know Sasuke wouldn't divulge the information unless he wanted to.

"Fine, but I'm going with you. It's a good thing no one goes near the place anymore."

Sasuke nodded. He had already assumed as much.

* * *

Kakashi sat on the couch in his apartment. He sighed and closed his eyes. Normally missions could keep his mind from dredging up old memories, but because of Danzou he didn't have that luxury anymore.

Konoha was a shadow of its former self. He was beginning to almost hate his home. No, not his home...just the people who run things.

In need of some air, he left his apartment behind and walked aimlessly through the streets of Konoha. He saw merchants closing up their shops and restaurants beginning to serve their evening meals. But what must stuck out to him was how quiet the main streets were. Even the villagers were more subdued. This place had changed so much in such a short period of time. Even in the evenings, there would still be friends and neighbors milling in the streets, children trying to get away with playing outside just a bit longer while parents called them away to dinner. He would always run into fellow ninja, chat and laugh about something not mission related, and then move on. At some point he would usually run into Gai, who would make his loud declarations on the power of youth and then somehow force him into some kind of challenge that he'd always end up winning by outsmarting the energetic man. Kurenai would glare at him and berate him for his books, Anko would be...well, Anko.

And then there was Naruto.

It was about this time he would always find him sitting in a booth at Ichiraku's loudly slurping up bowl after bowl of ramen. Sometimes other members of the rookie nine would eat there as well. He could always count on Ino and Sakura to argue boisterously over something meaningless.

All of that was missing.

It was like all the life had been sucked out of the village.

Was it because Naruto was missing? Or was it because Danzou had single-handedly killed the spirit of Konoha?

Kakashi hadn't paid much attention to where he was going. But he wasn't surprised to suddenly find himself in front of the memorial stone. With a sigh, he sat down in front of the stone. Stretching out his hand, he grazed his fingertip over the names...Rin...Obito...Jiraiya...Sarutobi...one new carving, Tsunade...Minato...

He closed his eyes.

'_I wish you were here.'_

"I don't know what to do anymore. The Konoha I know and love is gone. The place you all fought so hard for no longer exists. The Rokudaime has changed the village to something I can no longer recognize. In some ways I'm glad you're not here to see this. I hate what this place has become."

Kakashi sighed.

"Naruto...he's in deep trouble. And I don't know if we can save him."

Kakashi hardly noticed the solitary tear that fell from his one normal eye as he continued to pour out his soul. It was dark by the time he had no more words to say. He stood and prepared to leave with one last word for his sensei.

"I've failed you sensei. I could not protect your son. I only hope that I can make up for it by saving him now."

* * *

Darkness had fallen when the two shinobi stood in front of what used to be Uchiha Sasuke's home. Shikamaru had transported them there so that ANBU wouldn't see where they were going. He could feel Sasuke tense up beside him at the sight of his abandoned home.

"Follow me." Shikamaru glanced at him before following behind the stoic male.

'_At the main temple of the Nakano Shrine, on the far right side, under the 7__th__ tatami mat is the clan's secret meeting place. There you will find what purpose the doujutsu of the Uchiha clan originally served. The real secret is written there.'_

Sasuke walked away from his home and toward the shrine he hadn't gone near in years. He had done exactly as Itachi stated so many years ago. He read everything on the Mangekyou Sharingan, remembered all of it, took it to heart, used it to prepare himself to avenge his family.

'_If you open your eyes to the truth, including myself, there will be three people who can handle the Mangekyou Sharingan.'_

_Three_...He had said three. At the time, those words didn't register. He was so distraught over the loss of everyone and so focused on Itachi's betrayal that he hadn't noticed the word. It was only when he was searching for Itachi with his team that he recalled those words and wondered who he meant.

'_People live their lives bound by what they accept as correct and true. That's how they define reality. But what does it mean to be "correct" or "true?" Merely vague concepts...their reality may all be a mirage.'_

Again, he had completely disregarded his brother words. To him, it was just another instance of Itachi trying to rattle and confuse him with words while he looked for a way to attack. But now he understood. He had lived his entire life based on what he considered to be the truth. His 'truth' was that his clan had been massacred. His 'truth' was that his family was killed by his own brother. His 'truth' was that he'd done it to test his capacity.

Except the 'truth' was a lie. A mirage.

Reality bites hard.

Now at the shrine, he followed the directions that had been ingrained in him at the age of seven, thanks to Itachi, and made his way into the clan's secret meeting place.

"Are you going to tell me why were here Uchiha?" Sasuke almost jumped. He had been so lost in his thoughts, he had forgotten about his silent companion. After lighting a torch with a small version of his katon jutsu, he turned to Shikamaru.

"I'm looking for anything on Uchiha Madara."

"One of the founding fathers of Konoha?"

"Hn." Sasuke nodded.

"For what reason? And how will it help Naruto?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the shadow binder in annoyance before turning away and beginning his long task of looking through books and scrolls.

Shikamaru sighed. Damn Uchiha. "You know if you gave me a clue as to what's going on, maybe I could make this go faster."

Sasuke stood still for a moment and tried to decide if it would be worth it to enlighten his guard. At least Shikamaru might actually help him. Maybe. If he wasn't too lazy. Well, he was a Nara, after all, and Nara's loved a good puzzle. And he had to admit, he could use the help since he didn't have time to waste here.

"Alright. Uchiha Madara is alive an-"

"Impossible...the man's been dead for years."

"Believe what you will. I know it to be the truth. I've met him. I need to know everything I can about him. If what Itachi said is true, the man is practically immortal."

"And you need this for what reason?"

Sasuke sighed. He was tired of questions. He wanted to concentrate on answers. "Madara is the leader of Akatsuki."

"What?"

"He was also the one behind the Kyuubi's attack on Konoha." Shikamaru's eyes went wide. "He told me the truth of what happened to my clan. But now...I don't trust him..." Sasuke stared grimly in front of him. He had allowed two Uchihas to control his life. He was done being influenced by what people said. He needed to see the truth for himself. "And I will not be anyone's puppet. Not anymore."

Shikamaru slowly nodded. Maybe, just maybe, that file would be the catalyst for change in Uchiha Sasuke. He didn't understand Madara's role in this. But he understood enough to know that, whatever it was, it could impact Naruto, Konoha, even the entire ninja world. He grumbled, then took a scroll in hand and started looking at it.

* * *

Danzou watched Naruto rock back and forth with a slight smile on his face. He could tell...the boy was slowly losing his resolve. It wouldn't be too much longer.

"Make it stop..." Naruto muttered.

The plan had been a sound one. Use physical torture first, just to weaken him physically. His shinobi force were good for that. Then he would start using the Black Remembrance jutsu...slowly at first...just enough to cause him mental distress. Each session would get a bit worse. Now he was in his final two stages. He was unleashing the full force of the jutsu this time. He was making Naruto relive every single one of his worst memories, over and over again in a constant loop.

When this was over, only one step would remain: Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu . It would reveal the blond's absolutely worst fear and bring it to reality in his mind.

It would certainly break him.

Naruto's exhausted body trembled under the onslaught of memories that assaulted him. His fingers clenched and unclenched against his head unconsciously.

"Make it stop..."

_His little three year old body was dragged down the hallway and to the front door by the woman who ran the orphanage. She was yelling words he didn't understand. Then he was flung out of the door, out of his only home. Tears ran down his face as he looked up at the lady. But it was hidden by the rain that immediately drenched him.  
_

"_Get out of here you thief! You monster! Live on the streets like the monster you are."_

"Make it stop..."

_It was his sixth birthday. He had learned enough to know to stay indoors on his birthday, since people liked to hurt him more on this day than any other. Why wasn't his birthday happy and fun like all the other kids?_

_There was a crash and he ran from his tiny kitchen to the living room. Glass was everywhere. He found the culprit in a large rock. A note was tied around it. He tried to read the note but he didn't understand the symbols. He shrugged and went to the kitchen to get a broom._

_And then there was an explosion._

_And then there was pain._

"Make it stop..."

_He was trapped in an alley. The crowd converged on him with all forms of weapons. He was so stupid! He never should've taken that shortcut._

"_Demon!"_

"_Monster!"_

"_There's no one to help you this time. We'll give you what you deserve."_

_Weapons flew from all sides...blunt objects bruised him; sharp objects cut into his skin. But he didn't cry. Oh no, he had learned early on never to cry or scream. It only made things worse. Someone punched him. He fell to the ground from the impact and before he could move a foot kicked him hard in the stomach. He whimpered and curled himself into a little ball to attempt to protect himself while he was beaten over and over again until they got tired. When the crowd had finally seen enough to satisfy their bloodlust, they dispersed._

_Only when the last person was gone did he allow the tears to pool and spill over. He tried to stand, but his leg hurt too much. It wasn't until an hour later that a masked man found him and carried him to see the old man._

"Make it stop..."

_It was his eleventh birthday. He had gone to Ichiraku's for lunch. Old man Teuchi let him eat for free since it was his birthday. He walked home with a smile and a full tummy, expertly maneuvering through the backstreets to avoid the festival crowd. He was only a block away from home when he was stopped by a group of drunken men._

"_Oh look, it's the Kyuubi brat."_

"_You wanna have a little fun with us kid?"_

_He kept his head down and tried to hurry past them. Two tall men blocked him. "Going somewhere demon?"_

_He turned back around preparing to bolt the direction he came, but it was blocked off by two more. "Yeah, we didn't say you could leave. We wanna have some fun."_

_One made a grab for him and he dodged and tried to run away, but the next man tripped him. Another turned him over and tied his arms behind his back. He tried to scream, but he was immediately gagged. The men dragged him into the woods as he kicked and struggled. Once in the forest, he was tied to a tree. He whimpered and shook his head as tears rolled down his face while his clothes were cut off and all four men unzipped and freed themselves._

"_You'll pay for what you did demon."_

_And then there was pain. Indescribable pain as he was ripped apart and violated over and over again._

"No..."

_He stood on the water. Sasuke stood high above him._

"_What am I to you? Am I not your friend? Are you saying that everything Team 7 went through didn't mean anything to you!"_

"_No...it wasn't meaningless...you have become my best friend."_

"_Then why?"_

"_That is why...there is meaning in defeating you."_

_They ran toward each other with punches and kicks, weapons flying, until one powerful kick connected and he went flying across the water._

"_There won't be anyone to stop things like last time...I will kill you."_

_The chirping of birds filled the air. He formed a rasengan._

"_When I'm with you...I wonder if this is what it's like having a brother."_

"_Why...Why do you go so far for me?"_

"_Because you're the first real bond I've ever had. So...I'm going to stop you!"_

"_I can't come back. I'll just have to cut that bond apart!"_

"No...Sasuke..."

_He stood in the ruins of the snake's hideout. Sasuke stood high above._

"_Then why...Why didn't you kill me! Is this your idea of cutting bonds, Sasuke?"_

"_All I'll say about back then...That day I let you live on a whim."_

_Suddenly Sasuke was in front of him, an arm around his shoulder._

"_Come to think of it, wasn't your dream to become hokage? You should've spent your time training instead of wasting it running around chasing me."_

_Sasuke whispered in his ear._

"_Right, Naruto?"_

_Sasuke pulled his blade._

"_And this time, I'm going to kill you on a whim."_

"_Someone who can't save even one friend isn't fit to become hokage. Right, Sasuke?"_

_The blade plunged toward his back._

"NO!" Naruto yelled. The Rokudaime looked on expectantly. Naruto shivered slightly and his breath came in pants.

Right...just one last push...

He raised his hand to his sharingan eye and pushed up the cloth that covered it. He used it to make his last jutsu even more powerful.

"Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu. "

Naruto had no idea what hit him.

**a/n:** *dodges weapons* Yes I know...cliffy. I'm horrible for it. I'm sorry. I love you. Don't kill me. And Sasuke finally learns some things and starts doing some soul searching. He's finally starting to think. But time is getting short eh? As mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, I already started chapter 8...my muse was loving me. I'll have it up for you soon...promise. Reviews, of course, are not required, but they do feed my muse.


	8. How to Break a Heart

**Summary:** First 9 chapters are being completely revamped as of April 2011. A new enemy rose against Konoha. Tsunade was killed trying to save Naruto, who then lost control of Kyuubi killing all the enemies and destroying a part of Konoha in the process. Danzou seized his opportunity to became Rokudaime and put Naruto into prison hoping to turn him into a weapon. Meanwhile, Team Hawk is sent to Konoha to capture the nine-tails before Pein can get to it. But Sasuke has a plan of his own. What happens when he finds out about the new Konoha and Naruto? When faced with the man behind his nightmare, what will he choose to do? Eventually SasuNaru

**Warning: ** Possible spoilers for current manga chapters if you're not keeping up. Violence...mentions/descriptions of beatings and rape. Nothing too graphic but just FYI

**Disclaimer:** Obviously if I'm writing fanfiction, I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Seeking Vengeance and Finding Absolution**

**Chapter 8 - How to Break a Heart  
**

* * *

_**(Edited 4/29/2011)**_

_(Previously)_

_Right...just one last push..._

_He raised his hand to his sharingan eye and pushed up the cloth that covered it. He used it to make his last jutsu even more powerful._

_"Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu. "_

_Naruto had no idea what hit him._

** x x x_  
_**

Naruto looked at his surroundings in confusion.

He stood in the middle of the main road. People walked past him. Others bumped into him and shouted out a curse for being in the way. Parents with children steered away from him.

It was a normal occurrence for him...but that was...weird.

Wasn't he just in prison?

Did Danzou let him go? Or did someone save him?

And why couldn't he remember?

The smell of ramen halted his confused thoughts and with a huge grin, he ran over to his favorite booth and sat in his favorite spot.

"Hey old man! Get me a miso ramen." He expected to hear Teuchi's normal reply and Ayame's friendly hello.

"What are you doing in here?"

"Huh?"

"You're not allowed here, you monster!"

"W-What? But-" Naruto's eyes went wide in surprise. Then he laughed. "Funny old man. You got me there."

Teuchi glared at the blond and growled at him. "Get out! You're scaring away my customers."

Naruto blinked. The old man was joking...right? "Hey...jokes over...I get it."

"OUT!" The man brandished a large knife in his hand like a weapon. Even Naruto couldn't mistake the hatred in the man's eyes. He jumped off the stool and started backing away from the place that had been his haven for years. What the hell was going on? He must be dreaming. Old man Teuchi would never treat him that way.

He bumped into someone who fell on impact.

"Hey watch where you're going!" Naruto turned around and grimaced slightly when he saw Ino on the ground. He immediately held his hand out for her like a gentleman.

"Oops. Sorry Ino, I didn't see you."

Ino glared and slapped the hand away. "Don't touch me you demon! You don't even have the right to speak to me."

Naruto paled. How could she possibly know? Only his team and the adults knew about the Kyuubi. Sakura-chan wouldn't have told her...would she? Maybe she was just repeating what everyone else said. He shook it off and responded, "I said I was sorry. You don't have to be mean."

"Tch...yeah right. Now you act like I hurt your feelings? Demons don't have feelings to hurt." Before he could reply, he heard a familiar voice.

"Hey Ino-pig! What happened to you?" Sakura walked up and helped brush the dirt off of her clothes. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at his teammate.

"Hey Sakura-chan!"

Sakura glared at him as if she never knew him. "What do you want?"

"He's the one who knocked me down!" Ino wailed. "That demon! He tried to hurt me." Sakura cracked her knuckles. Naruto's eyes went wide and he stepped back with a wary chuckle.

"Uh...Sakura-chan?"

"Don't talk to me like you know me! How dare you touch her! Stay away from her and me. Come near either of us again and I'll kill you!"

Naruto's mouth opened but nothing would come out. He felt tears prick in his eyes, but he blinked them away. He'd be damned if he would cry in front of them. He turned away, only to come face to face with the rest of Team Ten.

"Are you bothering Ino?"

"Heh...It was an accident. No big deal. She's fine." Naruto rubbed a hand nervously over the back of his head.

If looks could kill Naruto would've keeled over right there on the road. He gulped at the tension surrounding his four friends that all seemed to be focused toward him. He had to be dreaming...his friends would never act like this. Especially not Sakura-chan. Something had to be wrong.

He jumped to the rooftops before they could do anything else and sped off.

**x x x**

The nightmare continued no matter where he went. Every friend he encountered treated him like the rest of the ignorant villagers. Kiba and Akamaru tried to maul him. Sweet quiet Hinata gave him a cold glare that reminded him of the old Neji. Even Lee was mean to him and Lee wasn't mean to _anyone_.

This wasn't right? He needed to wake up from this horrible dream.

He created a clone just for the purpose of hurting him into waking up. The clone did just that by punching him hard. But nothing happened, except for the newly formed bruise that grew on his cheek. He paced back and forth on the empty training ground and tried to think back to how his day began. He couldn't think of it. Instead, his mind kept going back to a dirty cell and Danzou.

Was it him? Was he playing tricks on his mind again? His eyes went wide.

_'Genjutsu?'_

Naruto concentrated on expelling his chakra in a sort of explosion as he learned to do since he couldn't stop his flow. Nothing happened. He pulled out a kunai and stabbed himself in the thigh.

It hurt like hell and started bleeding like crazy but, still, nothing happened.

So...it wasn't genjutsu? That meant that this was real?

He heard the children of the academy and looked up. Iruka! Maybe he could help him. He jogged over to the academy entrance that was full of children leaving classes. When they noticed him, they started jeering at him and calling him a monster. Some even tried to throw their half-sharpened kunai at him, which he easily dodged. A few seconds later, Iruka came outside.

"What have I told you about using those outside of class? You shouldn't be throwing those at your classmates."

"But Iruka-sensei, he isn't a classmate?" One youth said. He pointed and Iruka followed the finger to the blond young man standing off to the side.

Naruto grinned and gave his old sensei a wave. Iruka frowned.

He expected a joke, a scolding, something like that.

He never expected what he got.

"What are you doing here?" The usually nice teacher growled.

"I just wanted to talk to you Iruka-sensei."

"Tch, as if I would ever talk to a monster like you. And you're scaring my students. Get away before I call ANBU."

"W-What? But, Iruka-sensei-"

Iruka pulled out a kunai and took up an offensive stance. "I won't say it again."

Naruto felt something in him crack. Maybe it was his heart. He gulped and backed away. The teacher may be just a chuunin, but he knew from experience how lethal he could be when provoked. A solitary tear slipped down his cheek. He could deal with all the terrible things people said about him. He could deal with the people who overcharged him and the restaurants that kicked him out. But he could not deal with this. Iruka-sensei was the one person who cared about him in the academy. This is the man who took him out for ramen, who listened to his problems and gave him advice. He was always there with his words of wisdom just when he needed it.

Was it all a lie?

He shook his head and ran off with tears in his eyes.

His mind whirled as he ran. This was his worst nightmare come to life. Konoha hated him. Sure, he'd known that already, but at least he had a handful of people that wouldn't. They were his friends...his family.

And now they had all turned against him. Or maybe they'd always been against him.

He was just turning the corner to get to his apartment building when he saw the huge mob of people heading for him. He was about to back away when he saw a mob coming from the opposite direction. What shocked him were the people leading the mob. One was Tsunade. The other was Kakashi.

Tears feel freely from his eyes now. "Why?" he asked. "Why are you doing this? What have I done?"

"You're a demon and you're too much of a liability to keep alive." The hokage stated blandly.

"You're responsible for the death of my sensei." Kakashi added.

"You destroyed my family!" Another person yelled.

The accusations came fast and furious. He looked for a way out, but he was trapped. Kakashi had a kunai in his hand. He could see chakra covering Tsunade's hand. Every person he called a friend had a weapon. This time there were no villagers in the mob. These were all his fellow shinobi that were passing judgment on him.

Naruto looked down. His tears fell to the ground.

He had no one left.

He had _nothing_.

What was the point of living then?

"I can't take this." He whispered, almost to himself and he gripped his jacket right over his aching chest. _'No more...'_

His heart shattered.

* * *

Sasuke gasped at a sudden pain in his chest. He gripped the front of his shirt where his heart would be, holding onto the wall for leverage as he tried to breathe. _'What is this?'_

"Sasuke…what's wrong?" Shikamaru asked as he saw the brunette squint momentarily like he was in pain. He couldn't have the Uchiha losing it now. Not when they were close to the time to plan.

Sasuke didn't even hear him. He was caught in his mind. A sense of foreboding came over him. He felt such heartbreaking pain…more than he ever felt when he found Itachi standing over his dead parents.

What was it?

Somewhere in his mind a name floated to the surface.

'_Naruto…'_

"Sasuke!"

He blinked at the sound of his voice. Shikamaru was standing in front of him. Too close to him. He backed up a step. He closed his eyes and took a breath to calm himself.

"We need to go."

"We just got here. I thought you needed information."

"I've read enough for now. Grab everything you have. I will as well. We need to go now."

"What's wrong?"

"Naruto."

"What about him?"

"Whatever you have planned, we have to do it tonight."

"Tonight? We can't do this tonight. I don't even have a plan yet. Sai was going to get me a map. There's all kinds of troublesome logistics and variables and-" Shikamaru shook his head. The Uchiha really had lost it.

"I don't care. We have to get to Naruto now!" Sasuke grabbed every Uchiha scroll he could find and put them into his many pockets. Shikamaru followed his example even though he didn't understand what was going on in the Uchiha's head.

"Troublesome Uchiha." He muttered. "Look…could you be a bit more coherent here and tell me what the hell is going on?"

Sasuke growled and whirled around to face his companion. "I don't know alright! Something is _wrong_. I can feel it. I don't know how. But I just know we have to get to him tonight or we may not get him back!"

Shikamaru's eyes narrowed. He was at a loss. He didn't know what was going on, but the Uchiha was uncharacteristically out of sorts. And for a person who didn't seem to care at all about Naruto, he was quite adamant about getting to him. And he was sure it had nothing to do with his need of the Kyuubi. He sighed. This was too troublesome for him to have to deal with.

"Alright fine…let's go. It's almost time for the meeting anyway."

* * *

"No more…please…no more…" Naruto whimpered and rocked back forth yanking at his dirty blond locks like a lifeline.

"No more…"

"No more…"

"No more…"

It was Naruto's mantra, his plea, his prayer.

The man responsible for the mental torture stood across from the tortured soul with a small victorious smile on his face. Finally, he had broken the boy.

Now he could work on reforming him into the lethal shinobi he should've been.

* * *

It was ten minutes before midnight. Sasuke and Shikamaru sat against the trunk of a tree reading scrolls of the Uchiha clan history by the light of the full moon while they waited for the rest of the group to show up.

Shikamaru was fascinated by what he was reading. He knew each clan had their own set of secrets, but what he was reading was amazing. The battle of supremacy between the Senju and Uchiha clans, their eventual alliance and founding of Konoha, Madara's challenge of authority, the battle between he and the first hokage, the secrets of the sharingan…. Most of this wasn't in the academy textbooks. Most likely the council made sure the information was omitted. He was sure that no one besides another Uchiha had ever been given the opportunity to read this part of history.

Sasuke sighed and rolled up the last scroll and leaned his head back against the tree. "We need a plan."

Shikamaru glanced over at the Uchiha. "Sai has the map. And only he'll have a clue to how many guards there are. We could start planning, but we'll have to wait until he gets here to finalize things."

"I'm not working with an entire group of people. I hope you realize that." The Nara's eyes narrowed.

"And why not?"

Sasuke cut his eyes to the side to glare at the other man. "Use your head Nara. You know the moment you're noticed, you'll be seen as a traitor. Do you really want that for everyone here?"

"It's not like there's much of a choice."

"Yes there is. The less people involved the better. We have a better chance of getting to him in a small group."

"Troublesome…they won't like it."

"They don't have to. I really don't care. But you know as well as I do that it's the only logical plan. What would you do? Take on the role of leading an entire group of missing nin? That's what you'll end up doing if all of you are seen. And with so many people involved, it would be inevitable. Danzou's Root would be on you within a day and probably kill you without batting an eyelash and rationalize it as doing what was best for the village. You know this."

Shikamaru sighed and took on the position he's well known for when he's thinking. Sasuke saw it and waited.

'_What a pain.'_ Shikamaru knew that what Sasuke said was true. With Danzou's goons watching around every corner and on top of every building, they would be at risk…every one of them. It was risky enough just meeting here. They were fortunate that no one had caught on yet. Sure they were ninja and were used to their lives being at risk, but could he really ask so many to sacrifice? Kurenai couldn't wander from place to place trying to stay a step ahead of ANBU and Root with a baby. Some like Konohamaru, Udon, Moegi…they were still young genin. And where could they all go? It would be impossible to stay together…they'd have to split up. But if only a few of them were involved in the actual rescuing…Yes, they'd be forced to leave Konoha, but they could stay together. And the rest would still be safe in the village.

The only other problem would be Sasuke. Would he still try to take Naruto to Akatsuki? Whomever he decided on would have to be prepared to fight just in case the Uchiha tried to take Naruto away. This was becoming more and more troublesome by the moment.

"Alright Uchiha, you have a point. But I'm going to be one of those going with you."

"Hn." Sasuke nodded. He had no problem with Shikamaru. In fact, he had more respect for him than most. His strategic planning and his shadow binding techniques would come in handy. "Who else do you have in mind?"

Shikamaru thought for a moment. He went through each name in his mind, strengths and weaknesses of each. "Kakashi. He is still one of the strongest ninja in Konoha. He also has the history with Naruto as well as the Fourth. If Naruto ever finds out the truth, I think we'll need him."

As much as Sasuke wanted to balk at the idea of his old sensei being with them, he knew the genius was right. He nodded in acceptance.

"I would also suggest at least one of the following people…Neji, Sakura, Genma, Anko. I would've said Sai, but now that I know he has that seal on him, that's not possible. Besides he might be more useful to me staying here in Root."

At the second name, Sasuke actually did cringe. "Not Sakura." The thought of Sakura and Karin within two feet of each other was enough to make him shudder. "I already have a medic."

Sasuke thought of the other three choices. Anko…in his opinion, she was a wild card. He really didn't know her well enough, beyond the fact that she was once Orochimaru's apprentice and had the earlier version of the curse seal. Genma was a possibility as a seasoned jounin, but he wasn't sure of the man's abilities. Neji though, held the most promise. He was the most gifted of the Hyuuga clan and his techniques were very difficult to beat. "You, Kakashi and Neji. That will be all we need. Also, I will call my team. They should be able to cause enough chaos to distract the guards at the gates."

"Alright. And I'm sure causing distractions will be right up some people's alley. Konohamaru learned enough about pranking from Naruto. Kiba's done his share as well."

"Hn."

A poof of smoke interrupted them. They both jumped up with weapons ready until the smoke cleared, revealing Neji still clad in ANBU attire.

"Troublesome…you know you could get yourself killed that way." Shikamaru said as he lowered his weapon.

"I doubt it." Neji replied pulling off his mask to reveal the smirk.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Sasuke ignored them both. Now that he had finally resolved what he was going to do, he was anxious to get it done.

Another figure dropped silently from the tree. Shikamaru faced a smiling Sai.

"Oh good, you're here. Please tell me you brought the map with you."

Sai reached into his upper pocket and pulled out a rolled up scroll.

"Good, we'll need it tonight."

The two leaf nin's looked at Shikamaru surprised at the sudden change of plans. "Tonight?" Neji asked. "What do you mean tonight?"

"You'll find out when the whole group is here."

Neji wasn't satisfied with waiting but he stayed silent. His eyes strayed over to the solitary figure leaning against the tree and ignoring everyone. He narrowed his eyes. Whatever was going on, he was sure that the Uchiha had something to do with it. His glare hardened and Sasuke turned his face and stared right back at the Hyuuga impassively. Neither blinked until Shikamaru interrupted them.

"The gang's all here. You can quit your male posturing now."

Both males turned to Shikamaru with a glare that he ignored. He took the scroll from Sai and strolled in his usual lazy fashion to the center of the clearing. Everyone waited for him to begin. Sasuke never moved from his spot at the tree.

"So…I know it'll be troublesome for everyone, but there's been a change in plans. We have to break Naruto out tonight." He steeled himself for the flood of questions. He wasn't disappointed.

"Why tonight?"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Is HE helping us?"

"How are we going to get him out?"

Shikamaru raised a hand for silence. "Maa, maa…one thing at a time."

"Why such short notice?" Shikamaru glanced back at Sasuke for a moment. He couldn't exactly tell the group it was because of a bad feeling that an ex-Konoha nin had.

"Because the sooner we get him out the better. Every day we wait is another day he's being tortured. Eventually he'll break and none of us want that. Four people will be going in. The rest of you will act as a distraction."

"What the hell? You can't leave us out of this!" Kiba whispered what was on the minds of many, although it might as well have been yelled at the top of his lungs for all the vehemence behind it.

"Do you all want to become missing nin?" The clearing went silent. "Do you want ANBU or Root on your tails for the rest of your life because Danzou labeled you as traitors?"

No one said a word.

"Look, I know every single one of you wants to help. But we each have our own part to play. Coming up with a distraction is one of the most important parts. Not only will we have to get Naruto out of prison, we'll also have to get him out of Konoha. Without a good diversion, our plan will fail."

Everyone in the clearing nodded in understanding. Naruto was someone special to each one of them. They would do whatever they had to in order to help. But some of them knew that becoming a missing nin was not an option. They looked among themselves wondering which four would be chosen.

"Who are the four you have in mind?" Kakashi asked, breaking the silence with the question everyone had on their minds.

"Myself obviously." Shikamaru glanced to his side. Neji saw the glance and knew he was chosen as well. "Neji?" He looked at his lazy friend for a moment while weighing his options. Finally he nodded. Shikamaru looked to be a bit relieved. He looked back at the masked ninja. "And I was hoping you'd be willing."

Kakashi's one eye widened in surprise. But then he understood why he was asked. He had no family ties, unlike so many others here. Except... He looked at his lover. Iruka looked sad, but gave him a slight nod. The man would deal with whatever he had to in order for Naruto to be safe. He looked back at Shikamaru. "Alright."

"But that's only three." Kiba exclaimed.

"No…it's four. Isn't it?" Chouji asked quietly. Shikamaru didn't want to look his best friend in the eye. They had been friends for so long and had taken on every enemy together. What he was about to do now would separate them for good.

"Yes."

It didn't take much for the group to put two and two together. They looked behind Shikamaru to the man slightly hidden by the shadow of the tree. Sasuke.

Kiba gritted his teeth in anger. "Why him? He doesn't even care."

"I explained that last night. The reasons haven't changed."

Kiba growled. He knew there was nothing for it, but he was pissed that the man was even here. If it wasn't for him, maybe Naruto would never have ended up in this position. Hinata took his hand in hers and tried to calm him through her touch while at the same time calming herself. She would be losing her cousin and her only companion around the Hyuuga compound.

"However, as I mentioned earlier, we'll need all the distractions we can get. So we still need your help, otherwise, we'll never be able to get around all the guards. Konohamaru?"

"Yeah?" The young genin piped up, wondering why he was called.

"You learned your pranks from the best right?"

The youngster slowly grinned as he started to understand what was being asked of him. "That's right! Boss taught me everything I know."

"Good, then you will know what to do." Shikamaru turned his attention back to everyone else. "Separate into teams of four or five and discuss what you can do. I don't care what you do to distract them…pranks, explosions, crying wolf, whatever…as long as it's something. And don't get caught. This mission will begin in two hours. I guess you can disperse. Oh, Kakashi, Neji and Sai, please stay behind."

The group dispersed until only seven were left. Two were his teammates. He sighed. He knew this part would be a drag. "Ino…Chouji…"

SLAP!

The lazy ninja's head was thrown to the side by the force of Ino's hand. He finally looked at both of his friends and teammates in the eye and saw the tears Ino let flow and Chouji was trying to hold back. He sighed and wrapped an arm around each of them. "I'm sorry." _'I'm sorry for leaving you behind.'_

"Don't you dare die Shikamaru. I'd never forgive you." Ino sniffled.

Shikamaru nodded to his best friend and Chouji smiled back, albeit forced. At least he understood. Chouji pulled Ino along as they walked away.

The pseudo-leader of Team Asuma let out a huge sigh. He didn't feel Neji behind him until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"You okay."

"Yeah…I guess."

They turned and sat down, listening to Sai as he outlined the map and went over Root's security detail for the four of them.

* * *

Shikamaru and Sasuke stood in front of Naruto's apartment.

"Can I trust you to stay here for a while? I have to take care of some things, grab some stuff."

"I'll be here. I'll send a summons to my team so they'll know what to do."

He nodded and disappeared. He reappeared in his home. It felt almost strange. It had been at least a week since he'd slept at home. He went to his bedroom and grabbed every weapon in his arsenal and sealed some extra clothes in a scroll. Then he went to the kitchen to grab some food.

"Shikamaru?" He tensed. He was hoping not to run into his mother or father before he left.

"Hey dad."

"Looks like you're going on a mission. Have time for a game of shogi with your old man?"

"I-I really don-"

"Just one game." He sighed. There was no way he'd be able to make a good enough excuse for his father.

"Alright."

They sat on the porch and he watched his father set up the pieces.

And then they began.

Move after move…piece after piece. Pawns were lost, positions shifted. And then Shikamaru made his move.

Shikaku's eyes widened for a split second before narrowing in concentration. "Still think of yourself as a knight, huh?"

"Yeah." He watched his father shift his bishop.

"And what do you plan to do?" Shikamaru knew he wasn't talking about the game.

"Do you really expect me to tell you my plans?"

Shikaku smirked. "Guess not. So, are you strong enough now, for what you're going to do?"

"I hope so. The life of not only the king, but others depend upon it."

The older Nara nodded in understanding before making another move. "You do understand what this means?"

"Yes. I'm…sorry."

"Don't be. I'm proud of you for taking a stand. I'm just sorry it ever had to come to this. Just try not to do anything stupid."

"Maa…don't worry. I'm no climbing silver."

They both stood up. Shikamaru fastened his weapons bag. Shikaku did something uncharacteristic and pulled his son into a hug. Shikamaru's eyes widened before he smiled slightly and hugged his father knowing it would be a while before he'd see him again…if ever.

"Take care of yourself out there son. Your mother will take it all out on me if you don't stay alive." Shikamaru nodded and turned away without looking. Turning back would just make it harder.

* * *

Chiisaiko appeared on top of Karin's head. The little snake gave some sort of smirk as it slithered down her face feeling the face twitch. Finally he moved by her ear and hissed. She screamed and jumped up looking for the culprit. Except the green snake moved by Juugo as a precaution. Her screams would've awakened everyone in a square mile radius if not for the fact that they were nowhere near people.

"Damn woman! What the hell is your problem?" Suigetsu growled. Juugo sat up as well.

"I heard something."

"So did we. Your screeching voice!"

"Shut up Suigetsu. I know I heard something."

Juugo looked down when he felt something wrapping around his arm. He smiled and raised his arm up to see the small summons. "We have another message."

The arguing teammates turned to look at Juugo and he pointed to the snake.

"Damn thing hissed in my ear. That's what I heard." Karin glared daggers at the little summons.

"What does Sasuke want this time?" Suigetsu asked.

"Sasuke-sama said he needs you to act as a diversion in two hours time."

"Really?" Suigetsu grinned. Finally he could get some action. He was getting bored.

"Finally! It's about time!" Karin yelled.

The group gathered what they needed and made their way out of the cave and ran toward Konoha.

* * *

Danzou, smirked at the view before him. The broken blonde was rocking back and forth on the floor still softly mumbling the same words to himself over and over again.

"No more…"

"No more…"

"No more…"

"Naruto?"

"No more…"

Danzou sat on the concrete slab and reached out to rub his fingers over the blond head. He knew the boy was only half conscious. The genjutsu was made that way. It was almost impossible to break without the caster's help. With a quick hand sign, the genjutsu was broken. But the blond's mutters continued. The older man continued his ministrations while his voice took on the sound of one so fatherly and loving. Quite opposite of his actual nature. "Naruto…"

"No more…"

"Do you want the nightmares to stop?"

"No more…"

He turned the boy's head and looked into blank eyes. "Listen to me Naruto. Do you want the nightmares to stop?"

"Stop? Please…make it stop…"

"I can make it stop Naruto." Naruto stopped for a brief moment before rocking again.

"Please…"

"I can make it all stop. But you have to do what I say. Will you do as I say Naruto?"

"Yes...Anything…just please?"

No one was privy to the malevolent grin that graced the wrapped face.

"Good."

* * *

Shikamaru teleported his way into the apartment and found Neji already there and waiting along with Sasuke. Figures Kakashi wasn't there yet. While they waited for the habitually late one, Shikamaru grabbed some clothes and weapons for Naruto.

It was another 10 minutes before Kakashi transported his way into the room. Shikamaru raised a brow at the copy ninja, who shrugged his shoulders and opened his mouth to give an excuse.

"Don't bother." Sasuke interrupted before the man could even start.

Shikamaru looked at the rest of his makeshift four man team. "Everyone understand what they're doing?" Everyone nodded. "No questions?" He was answered with No's all around. "Alright then, let's move out."

* * *

Two ANBU and two Root members stood keeping watch over the main gate. The Root members stood silently and hardly moved a muscle. The ANBU, though, talked between each other, sometimes about the emotionless shinobi accompanying them. Neither ANBU member was happy about being stuck doing guard duty and definitely weren't happy about sharing the job with Danzou's little drones.

"Man, I'm starving. I wish time would go faster."

"Yeah, this sucks. I hate guard duty."

An explosion rocked the landscape just a quarter mile away from the gates. It was close enough that dirt, leaves, and tree bark sprayed into Konoha. The two Root ninja separated. One went to notify their leader, the other along with more team members, ran out the gates to investigate.

Five minutes later fireworks began to shoot off behind the Hokage Mountain. Parents came out to investigate. Children ran out behind them at first curious, and then when they saw the flashing colors, excitedly. They didn't know the occasion, but they didn't care. Villagers stopped what they were doing and came out to watch the display.

Meanwhile, Danzou was in his office finalizing his plans on how to use his new pet when one of his Root members barged in and notified him of the explosion. Before the nin even finished explain, they turned at the sound of a boom and saw the fireworks. His eyes narrowed at the emotionless shinobi in front of him. "Deal with this. Now." The ninja bowed and left in a hurry. Soon Root and ANBU were outside the village searching for possible enemies.

* * *

The team of four stood in the shadows. When they saw the explosion, they began to make their move. It didn't take long to reach the Konoha jail. They were right in time to see the unexpected fireworks show. Shikamaru couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him. _'Konohamaru.'_ Neji elbowed him lightly. "Let's go." he mouthed. With a nod and a quick glance at the two sharingan wielders, he moved ahead.

They were met by eight guards the moment they were inside. But because of Sai, they were ready.

"Go!" Kakashi yelled. Shikamaru and Sasuke ran ahead, the former leaf nin slashing through two guards using his Kusanagi. Six more stood in Kakashi and Neji's way. Three ran toward Neji, the rest went for the copy ninja.

"Kaiten!" The spinning Hyuuga knocked the guards away easily. He quicly used Jyuuken on their chakra systems, leaving them all dead. Kakashi meanwhile, was using the guards' own jutsus against them until he had disposed of them.

"Well, that was easy enough."

"Hn." Neji nodded and the two ran to catch up with their teammates.

* * *

Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Chouji and Ino were still trying to decide what to do as they walked through the street. They passed a pen full of pigs. Kiba's eyes widened and he stopped, turned and looked at the pen, looked back ahead, and then a well known mischievous grin settled on his face.

"Uh oh." Ino remarked. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking we should raise hell." Kiba replied with a smirk. Hinata and Shino, having been teammates of the dog boy for so long, saw the pen and knew what he was thinking.

"Let's do it." Hinata quietly said with a light giggle.

"What are we doing?" Chouji asked.

Ino grinned at her teammate. "Raising a little hell of course!"

Kiba inserted a bit of chakra and broke the lock and opened the gates wide.

"I suggest we leave now." Shino said. Everyone nodded in agreement and began to walk off. Kiba climbed on Akamaru and whispered, "Now boy." Akamaru growled and barked then snapped at the little pigs. They squealed and started running. It took all of Kiba's control not to laugh. The teen and his pet ran to catch up with the rest. They all smiled, knowing they did their part.

Team Gai minus Neji were in a bar not far from where the commotion was coming from. Tenten shook her head. She never thought the day would come where she would actually make Lee drink. For the first time ever, they really _needed _him drunk. Once Lee was practically passed out, Tenten made a show of starting a fight with another man. When he got ready to attempt to backhand the weapons girl, his fat hand was grabbed by a swaying Lee.

"YOU ARE UNYOUTHFUL! A MAN SHOULD NEVER TOUCH A LADY!" And then he was moving and swaying away from fists. First one, then two, then ten...Soon it was a huge barfight with Lee using the drunken fist technique.

The barfight soon spilled out into the already busy street.

* * *

Karin, Juugo and Suigetsu met up after causing explosions all around the walls of Konoha.

"So, do you think that was enough?" Karin asked.

"I have one more trick up my sleeve before we head to the rendezvous point." Suigetsu replied with a grin.

"What are you planning?"

"Nothing big...I'm just going to lower the visibility a little." Karin nodded in understanding. Only when they had to concentrate on a mission did the three seem to work well together.

"Take Juugo and go. I'll follow you soon."

"Don't do anything stupid Suigetsu."

He grinned.

* * *

Explosions continued in different spots all around Konoha. However, the villagers had no idea as they were transfixed on the colorful sparks rising into the night sky.

And then they heard squeals. People were jostled as animals ran through the crowd. Women screamed as pigs ran over their feet and children toppled over them. There was complete madness as people ran every which way trying to avoid the stampede of bovine.

Danzou looked at the chaos below and growled. He had no idea what was going on. No one had explained the explosions yet. Each bird came back with a note revealing no signs of enemies. The fireworks seemed to be accidental. And now animals stampeding. Something wasn't right and it was bothering him greatly. Then he looked in another direction and saw a large group of people that seemed, from his vantage point, to be fighting.

While he watched, a heavy mist began to fill the air.

He pounded his cane against the floor with enough force to crack it. What the hell was going on? He called another of his ninja.

"You called Danzou-sama?" Said the shinobi who bowed before his master.

"Take everyone you can and secure the jinchuuriki. Right now."

"Yes sir."

* * *

Four more guards just slumped to the floor without a wound on them. Sasuke's mangekyou sharingan faded and the four moved ahead quickly. Only one more floor to go. Each guard they passed was disposed of quickly. Shikamaru at first wondered if killing the guards was necessary.

"The more that are disposed of now, the less that will be after us later. It's brutal, but necessary." Kakashi had stated in the way of a seasoned ex-ANBU.

And so he had shrugged and they'd moved ahead.

Now they were only a few feet away from the lowest level. But instead of regular jounin or ANBU guards, 6 Root guards stood in the way.

"Damn!" Shikamaru's eyes narrowed.

"You guys must really have something to hide in there. I've never known Root to work in prisons." Kakashi drawled as he got into a fighting stance.

Fortunately for Shikamaru, the torches provided enough light for him to perform the shadow bind technique. "Kage Shibari a success." he whispered.

Sasuke, Kakashi and Neji quickly incapacitated the Root guards. Then they quickly and quietly moved down the last set of stairs, stopping right before the landing. Kakashi quietly produced a shadow clone and sent it out to gather intel. The cloned Kakashi ran through the doorway only to have weapons flying toward him. Pulling two kunai he tried to divert them all but two hit him making him poof away.

Kakashi, on the stairs received the information from the clone. He held up 2 fingers so they could see. Everyone nodded. He tapped Neji and gave him a few ANBU signs. Neji nodded and went down first, followed by Sasuke then Shikamaru, with Kakashi bringing up the rear. The moment Neji stepped through the doorway shuriken and kunai were flying toward him. He deflected them all with a Kaiten.

"Get behind me, now." Sasuke stated calmly walking forward. Neji moved back onto the steps. Sasuke glared at the two guards who were standing between him and the dobe. He flashed through hand signs while they did the same.

"Chidori Nagashi!"

Currents of electricity emitted from his body and across the floor striking both guards and shocking them, making them fall to the floor paralyzed. _'Too easy.'_

He grabbed the key off of the paralyzed ninja's neck and opened the steel door. Nothing...absolutely nothing in the world prepared him for what he saw. He stopped in the doorway and stared ahead in shock. Shikamaru came up behind him.

"What's wrong Uchiha?"

Sasuke couldn't even say. He just moved to the side. Shikamaru's mouth dropped open. Kakashi and Neji followed.

"Oh god." Neji blurted out.

The words seemed to bring Sasuke out of his stupor and he moved forward toward the disheveled rocking young man on the floor muttering to himself.

"D-Dobe?" There was no response from the blond. Sasuke kneeled before him and placed a palm against the tanned face. The skin was ice cold. He turned the head toward him and the entire group gasped at the blank look in the eyes. It was like he wasn't even seeing them.

"Naruto?" He slapped lightly against one whiskered cheek. "Hey...Naruto!"

Shikamaru cursed. If he could, he would punch something. "We're too late."

Kakashi sighed sadly. The blonde looked like a shadow of his self. But he refused to apologize to his sensei again. He would save his son. He looked at the other three with determination in his one eye. "We need to get him out of here. Now." They nodded. "Sasuke...knock him out."

Sasuke nodded and tried to use the sharingan, but it wouldn't work on his blank stare. "I can't do it."

"Do it the old fashioned way."

"But-"

Kakashi had no time for hedging and walked forward and hit the back of the blond's neck. Naruto slumped forward. He picked him up onto his back much like he had when he was a genin. "I'll carry him. Let's get going."

Sasuke took point and Shikamaru followed him, the other two came after them. It took until they reached the 2nd level before they ran into anyone. The Uchiha by this point was seeing red and any person that looked liked someone belonging to Root was killed before they had a chance to defend themselves. It was only a few minutes before they were in the doorway.

They were shocked to find chaos reigning the streets. Villagers ran, pigs ran, ninja ran after pigs. Shikamaru swore he saw a green leotard among a huge brawl. A thick mist was now spreading all over Konoha. In another place and time there was no doubt the four would find the entire scene hilarious. But right now they were intent on getting out. This was exactly the diversion they needed. Sasuke knew the mist was a ploy by Suigetsu and he was going to take advantage of it.

"Kakashi, take Neji. I'll take Shikamaru. You know where the abandoned city is right?"

"Yes."

"Meet us at the entrance."

"Right."

Kakashi took off with Neji. Sasuke grabbed Shikamaru's hand.

"Wait!" Shikamaru exclaimed.

"What?"

"We need one more person."

"No."

"Look Uchiha, you saw how bad Naruto is. We need Iruka."

"No."

"Dammit you troublesome Uchiha, be reasonable! He's the most likely of any of us to have a chance of getting through to him now."

Sasuke sighed. Last thing he needed was another complication. But really, he had no choice at this point. "Alright, we get him on the way out." And then he yanked Shikamaru along with him into the dense fog.

* * *

Four ninja kneeled before their hokage and leader.

"Rise." The four did as asked. Danzou glared with his good eye. It was enough to send apprehension, if not fear, going through the most emotionless Root member. "Explain."

"We could not find any trace of tracks or evidence near the explosions. The mist, though, is a common Hidden Mist technique." stated the first shinobi.

"Hm."

The second shinobi continued. "The fireworks looked to be some kind of accident. There must have been some left from the inaugural ceremony and a spark lit them."

The third stepped forward. "The pigs have all been caught and locked back in the pen. The fight has been contained. Maito Gai has taken his student home. Someone seemed to have gotten him intoxicated which causes him to get excessively violent. Order has been restored to the village. No damage has been done.

Danzou nodded, his lips tight in a thin line.

The fourth ninja swallowed nervously as he stepped forward. He was ANBU, not Root, but he had gotten into Danzou's graces well enough to have better missions and be privy to more confidential information. He knew Danzou would be beyond angry at the news he was about to tell. "The prisons were breached. Every guard is dead except for the two that were in the fifth level. They are in the hospital because their nervous systems are a mess." He stopped as he saw Danzou gripping the cane so hard he could hear wood cracking.

"Go on."

"Uh...the Kyuubi jinchuuriki...was taken."

Danzou glared at the four with a ferocity none had seen from him before. "Get...out." He ground out. The four wasted no time disappearing.

They were fortunate, because the spot they were in now held the remains of Danzou's desk.

* * *

Kakashi and Neji waited. Neji impatiently, Kakashi was reading one of his beloved books. They had laid Naruto under a tree with Neji's jacket. He still hadn't awakened.

Neji did another sweep with his byakugan. "There they are."

A few minutes later, a much larger group, still led by Sasuke, walked up to the two.

"What took you so long?" Kakashi asked.

"As you can see, we made a couple of stops." Shikamaru replied. Kakashi saw Iruka with the group and almost smiled.

"What are we doing here Sasuke-kun? Why don't we just take the jinchuuriki and go?" Karin asked. Swarms of killer intent was directed at her from the Konoha shinobi.

"There has been a change of plans." Sasuke coldly replied.

"Again?" Suigetsu deadpanned. They should be used to it by now.

Sasuke ignored him and continued. "We will stay here for now. I will not be going back to Akatsuki." The leaf nin looked at each other in surprise at the turn of events.

"We only have two goals now. To help him" he pointed to Naruto, "and to kill Danzou, the Rokudaime Hokage."

**a/n:** Phew! This was doozy to write and get done before I go back to work Monday. But I got it done! I don't know if I'm completely satisfied...writing action is the bane of my existence as I'm sure you've heard from me before. Anyways, you'll get more insight into Sasuke's thoughts about Naruto in the next chapter. Thank you for reading and reviews are appreciated. Until next time! :)


	9. A Question of Trust

**Summary:** First 9 chapters are being completely revamped as of April 2011. A new enemy rose against Konoha. Tsunade was killed trying to save Naruto, who then lost control of Kyuubi killing all the enemies and destroying a part of Konoha in the process. Danzou seized his opportunity to became Rokudaime and put Naruto into prison hoping to turn him into a weapon. Meanwhile, Team Hawk is sent to Konoha to capture the nine-tails before Pein can get to it. But Sasuke has a plan of his own. What happens when he finds out about the new Konoha and Naruto? When faced with the man behind his nightmare, what will he choose to do? Eventually SasuNaru

**Warning: ** Possible spoilers for current manga chapters if you're not keeping up. Yaoi, of course.

**Disclaimer:** Obviously if I'm writing fanfiction, I do not own Naruto.

**a/n: **Thanks for the reviews! I know you all are like ready and waiting for this chapter so I'll shut up now and let you get to reading. Enjoy! :) Yes, I know Karin is not "technically" a medic nin. However, for the purpose of this story, she will be OOC in that respect.

* * *

**Seeking Vengeance and Finding Absolution**

**Chapter 9 - A Question of Trust  
**

* * *

_**(Edited 4/30/2011)**_

_"There has been a change of plans." Sasuke coldly replied._

_"Again?" Suigetsu deadpanned. They should be used to it by now._

_Sasuke ignored him and continued. "We will stay here for now. I will not be going back to Akatsuki." The leaf nin looked at each other in surprise at the turn of events._

_"We only have two goals now. To help him," he pointed to Naruto, "and to kill Danzou, the Rokudaime Hokage."_

** x x x**

"Naruto!" Iruka gasped at the sight of the battered and silent teen lying on the ground next to Kakashi. He ran to the comatose blond's side and gathered him into his arms. Tears leaked from his eyes as he tried lightly slapping the tanned face in the hopes that he could rouse him. It was to no avail. Though the murky blue eyes opened and even blinked, there was absolutely nothing behind them...just blankness. "Oh God Naruto." He stroked the limp and dirty blond locks while he rocked back and forth with the younger man in his arms.

Kakashi kneeled next to his distraught lover. Placing his hand on Iruka's shoulder, he gave it a squeeze. "I'm sorry Iruka." He said softly. "We just couldn't get there in time. We were fortunate to get to him at all. We just have to hope we can bring him back."

Sasuke felt a twinge of guilt at the scene and turned away. He wasn't about to go feeling guilty for something that wasn't his fault. So, he put on a blank face and focused on the problem at hand. He glanced to the east and saw the sun beginning to peek out over the horizon. "We need to go," he said, breaking the silence. He started walking away. His team, with one last glance at the Konoha ninjas, turned and followed him. Sasuke didn't bother looking back to see if the others followed. He knew they would. It's not like they had anywhere else to go.

Iruka didn't even notice or hear anyone, so focused was he on the blond.

"Come on Iruka." Kakashi gave the man's shoulder one last squeeze before he stood and tried to take the boy from Iruka's arms. "You need to stay calm. You won't be any help to Naruto like this. We need to get him into a bed so he can be treated." Iruka finally released his tight grip and Kakashi gathered the blond into his arms. He waited for Iruka to stand and then the Konoha group walked forward toward the gates that remained forever opened, soundlessly inviting them into the empty city.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru muttered. With a sigh, he placed his hands in his pockets as he followed a missing nin and his teammates into the unknown. He was a simple man. All he really wanted was a simple life...get married, have a couple of kids, and spend the rest of his life watching the clouds. That was all. Instead, he was a traitor to his village and a missing nin. How things can change in just a few days.

The early morning light gave them a better look at the city that would be their refuge, at least for a while. All of them looked up and around at the tall buildings left neglected over the years. Some buildings were boarded up. Others had shattered windows with curtains floating outwards, buffeted by the breeze. Evidence of what was once a bustling city lay strewn through random side streets. A sandal here, a toy there. But, despite it's abandoned state, the buildings were quite sound and in no danger of crumbling, which was fortunate for them.

Sasuke stopped in front of a large two story home. The group waited behind him. "We'll stay here. There should be enough room for everyone." Sasuke stepped inside, followed by the rest. They looked around the front room while he gave the place a quick walk-through. It was a mess of old furniture, dust, and cracking or peeling paint. But the place was sound and that's all that mattered. All of them tiredly dropped their gear and weapons on the floor.

"I swear, this building needs a good wind jutsu." Suigetsu commented offhand. Unfortunately, the humor he was going for didn't exactly come across the way he planned. Kakashi, Iruka, Shikamaru, and Neji turned to glare at him. Wind was Naruto's element. It had taken a few years of training with it, but he'd finally become proficient at controlling the wind.

Suigetsu shrugged. "What?" Sasuke raised a brow at the sudden killer intent leaking from the Konoha nin.

"It's just...Naruto...he's a wind user." Iruka clarified.

Oh.

Sasuke glared at at his teammate as he passed him to grab a dusty chair and upright it. "Good job sticking your foot in your mouth." he muttered.

"Well how the hell was I supposed to know?"

"Hn."

Suigetsu grabbed a chair of his own and slumped down into it. Neji looked at the old dusty couch in disgust before gingerly sitting on the edge of it. Shikamaru, though, being the lazy ninja he is, flopped down on the couch sending a choking cloud of dust into the air. The whole room was filled with the sound of coughing as each person tried to wave away the dust. All of them glared at the culprit. Shikamaru shrugged, muttered a 'troublesome' and then closed his eyes.

Kakashi walked over to the unoccupied smaller couch and placed Naruto on it. He sat on the arm rest and Iruka took the other seat on the couch next to Neji. Juugo, unconcerned with the conditions of the room, he'd seen much worse after all, took a seat on the floor. That left Karin who glared at her mist teammate while tapping her foot impatiently.

"What do you want?" Suigetsu growled at the red-headed annoyance.

"You know, a gentleman is supposed to give up his seat for a lady." Karin replied trying to give the idiot a hint.

"Well, I sure as hell ain't no gentleman and I don't see any ladies in this room either." Suigetsu said with a smirk as he sat back with his arms crossed, almost daring her to uproot him from the spot. The Konoha nin looked on, some with wide eyes, others in amusement. Kakashi smirked behind his mask. It was ironic that his ex-student had ended up with a team that was practically the same as the one he left behind. Neji shook his head at the impropriety of the team. Of course, Shikamaru ignored it all.

Sasuke glared at the two. They were both so annoying. "Karin."

Karin's hands clenched into fists and she screamed, "I'm going to KILL YOU!" She threw a punch at the mist nin, but her fist only met with water and she growled in frustration.

"Ha! You can't get me out of this chair. You can't even hit me."

"Suigetsu."

Neither heard the Uchiha. Karin's screaming got louder and Sasuke rubbed his temples with his fingers to alleviate the quickly developing a headache. Finally he stood. He'd had just about enough. "KARIN...SUIGETSU...SHUT UP BEFORE I KILL BOTH OF YOU!"

Both went silent at the scathing glare and threat. In fact, they both looked surprised to see their teammate look so out of character. Sasuke took a deep breath before his face returned to its typical blank mask. He gestured to the chair he had just vacated.

"Sit." He directed at Karin who completely missed the command for what it was and immediately began gushing because the man of her dreams gave up his seat for her.

"Thank you Sasuke-kun. You are such a _gentleman_." She sat down and glared at the mist nin. "Unlike some people." She muttered. Suigetsu didn't bother responding verbally. He allowed his middle finger to do the talking for him.

With a sigh, Sasuke leaned against the wall and gathered his thoughts before he began to speak. "We'll stay here for now. No one's been through this place except for myself and my team since it was abandoned. I doubt Danzou would even think of looking here. There's one bedroom on this floor and two upstairs. There's also a study across the hall that can serve as another bedroom on this floor. We'll put Naruto in the bedroom down here and Kakashi, you and Iruka can take the other room. We'll look for a bed for it later. Karin will stay with Naruto so she can keep tabs on him. Suigetsu and Juugo can take a room upstairs and Shikamaru, you and the Hyuuga can take the other."

"But what about you Sasuke-kun?" Karin asked.

"I'll take the couch." Karin was about to say something more but Sasuke saw the signs and quickly went on before her mouth could start running. "We'll need medical supplies. Iruka, you and Karin can take care of that. I'll show you where the hospital is later. Obviously it hasn't been used in years, but I'm sure you'll be able to find at least basic supplies there...Bandages, antiseptic and the like. Improvise with the rest. Food should be taken care of for at least a week, as long as we don't overdo it. I had Karin stock up during the mass confusion. We'll also have to keep watch just in case anyone comes looking for us here. But we'll worry about that later. I'll take everyone to see someone I know about weapons, as well."

Sasuke looked around at the group, getting a nod from some of them. Somehow, unwittingly, he had become responsible for an entire group of people. He wasn't too happy about the idea. But, at least the group was strong. No one would be a liability. Well, the academy teacher was a chuunin, so he wasn't all that sure about his abilities beyond what he'd seen back in the academy. But if he couldn't hold his own, it wasn't his problem. "Well, I guess we should clean up what we can and then get some rest. It's been a long night."

The group took it as their cue to disperse and went off in various directions, leaving Sasuke in the living room with Shikamaru, who was taking his sweet time getting up.

"Here Uchiha." He tossed a package at Sasuke.

"What's this?" Shikamaru shrugged.

"Naruto's file." Sasuke raised a brow. "You finished your brother's file. I figured you might want to read that one too."

"Hn."

Shikamaru disappeared up the stairs. But Sasuke would get no peace just yet. Kakashi ambled into the living room, hands in his pockets and looking nonchalant per usual. For a while, they both just stared at one another. After a minute, Kakashi sighed and leaned against the wall.

"So...you've grown up."

"Hn." Kakashi chuckled at the typical Uchiha response. Actually, he was a bit impressed by the way he was able to deal with his team, especially if this was what he had to deal with on a daily basis. If he wanted to be truthful about it, it was better than how he dealt with Team 7...at arms length. Anytime he saw conflicts, he did what he did best - avoidance. But Sasuke dealt with it all and he had now, unwittingly, become the unofficial leader of 4 more people. Though he wasn't all that sure whether he wanted to be led by someone like him. Time would tell anyway...

"So, Itachi's dead..." He began. Sasuke tensed. "Do you regret it?"

Sasuke's blank mask slipped just a bit, enough to see the inner turmoil his question caused, before he had it back in place.

"I never feel regret." He replied coldly.

"Ah."

Sasuke looked away. It was a lie. He knew it. Kakashi knew it. The man had warned him a long time ago about the consequences of his actions. But he didn't listen and now...he did regret it. He wanted to talk to his brother, find out what was so special about Konoha that he went against his own clan...Find out why he kept this from him. He closed his eyes and swallowed hard. He had to stop thinking now or there would be too many regrets to list. His hand clenched into a fist. He felt the pain of his nails digging into his palm. Without looking at Kakashi, he dismissed him.

"Go away Kakashi. I'm through talking." Kakashi shrugged.

"Suit yourself." He pulled his little orange book out of his pocket and walked back to the room that would serve as his bedroom. His mind would not allow him to sleep just yet and Icha Icha was always a good distraction.

Sasuke watched the man walk away. Once he made sure no one was coming near the room, he sighed and let the crumbling mask fall. He would fix it after he slept.

* * *

The early morning light found the Rokudaime sitting in his office, still seething over the events of last night. Even with all of his strict and rigorous training, his Root ninja couldn't stop someone from sneaking away with his pet.

A root ninja appeared in his office and knelt before him.

"Rise Takai and speak."

The ninja rose to his full height. It was easy to see why he was given that name as he was at least a head taller than his leader.

"I have a report on the prison break in. There were 25 casualties and 2 injuries. There are indications that the casualties were due to electrocution, strangulation, palm strike to the heart, strikes from various weapons and possibly a jutsu similar to the copy-ninja's chidori."

"Hmm." Danzou's eyes narrowed as he took in the information. He knew of only two people that used chidori, Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Sasuke. The use of lightning as a whole pointed to both of them. There weren't many lightning users in Konoha after all. The palm strike to the heart indicated a Hyuuga. So there were at least two people involved. He had a feeling there were more. He also had a feeling that all of the strange happenings last night weren't accidents. Unfortunately, he had no way to prove it. With a sigh, he sat back in his seat. He needed more information. He needed to talk to the only two ninja who made it out of the prison alive.

"Are the injured awake yet?"

"No. They are still in comas. However, the medic thinks they should wake in a couple of days. They will need months of treatment due to the stress on their neural systems."

"It doesn't matter, as long as they can talk I don't care if they never walk again. I need to know details of what occurred last night. You may go. Don't return until the two are awake. And send Gin to my office"

"Yes Danzou-sama." Takai bowed and disappeared.

A minute later there was a knock at the door.

"Enter."

Another male entered the room. He had silver hair and gray eyes. His face was like stone, not a sliver of emotion was seen as he got on his knee and bowed his head before his leader. Even Takai showed a hint of fear. Danzou was proud. It was the reason this young man was chosen to be at his beck and call.

"You called for me Danzou-sama?"

"Yes." With a gesture from Danzou, Gin rose and waited for direction. "I need you to send a summons to all active ninja in Konoha. They are to meet in front of the Hokage tower two hours from now. Anyone late will be severely punished."

"Right away Danzou-sama." With a parting bow, Gin left the room to begin his task.

Two hours later, the entire ninja population of Konoha, masked and unmasked...elite and genin, stood before the hokage. Most already had an idea of what this impromptu meeting would be about. What was left of the Konoha twelve stood together in a huddle. The number of them stood at eight. They whispered quietly among themselves, making sure no one would hear them. They hoped their friends had gotten far enough away. It was inevitable that the best ninja would be sent after them.

"All of you...take a look around. Take a look at yourselves." Everyone turned their attention to their hokage. Then they looked at one another in confusion at his command.

Danzou looked down at his entire army. He knew there were traitors among them. He needed to flush them out, but he needed time and information. His eye settled on a group near the back. The friends of the Kyuubi brat. If he was a gambler, he'd bet everything on them. Sliding his eye over another section, he saw a group of anbu together. He knew he could trust his own ninja, he'd trained them himself. His methods were effective. Needless emotions were eliminated. They were trained to only care about the success of their mission. They were completely under his thumb and obeyed his every command without question. However, he did not have that luxury with anbu or the rest of the ninja under his command. And that would make things difficult.

"The responsibility for the safety of this village, your home, lies with you. All of you failed Konoha this day because of your incompetence. Last night someone walked into the village undetected, went through the village undetected, and walked right back out of the village undetected with something very important to me and to the village. To add insult to injury, the thief had inside help."

Murmurs were heard throughout the crowd. Danzou could have grinned. He was getting exactly the response he wanted. Hoping to fan the flames of distrust, he went on. "That's right. Traitors are standing right here among us. It could be the person standing next to you. It could be your friend, your neighbor, someone you dislike. We must all keep our eyes and ears open for those who would betray their own village. Our village."

Some in the crowd nodded or shouted their agreement. Danzou smirked knowing he had those ones in the palm of his hand. "Don't believe for a second I don't already know that the mayhem last night were just distractions. The perpetrators will be found, have no doubt. They will be found and they will be severely punished."

Those who were involved didn't dare look away from Danzou. It was easy to see what he was trying to do. And they were not about to give him fuel for the fire. They didn't make eye contact with any of their comrades. So many around them could point a finger in their direction if they saw anything suspicious.

"All Root and Anbu squads are to meet in my office immediately. Everyone else is dismissed."

The crowd began to disperse. Danzou stared again at the group of Konoha's best rookie class. Suddenly, he smirked. Two were missing. A Hyuuga and a Nara. It seems he would be having a meeting with a few jounin squads later.

* * *

Uchiha Madara sat in a chair reading over a scroll. He'd read it before, but he needed something to keep him busy. It had been almost two weeks. His little pawn was late. Allowing for travel and then the time to subdue the jinchuuriki - which shouldn't be all that hard considering their past - he and his team should've been back a couple of days ago.

_'Oh little Sasuke...what is taking you so long young one?'_ Madara swirled his cup of sake before downing the rest of it in one gulp. _'Perhaps your weak emotions are clouding your judgement?' _He let out a dark chuckle. The boy had no idea that this was really a test. A test of loyalty, of bonds. He could have sent Pein to Konoha, he would've taken down the jinchuuriki in no time. Even Kisame could've done the job. But no, he wanted Sasuke to prove he was ready. To see how much he was willing to destroy in order to attain his goal. Even with Orochimaru's training Sasuke did not have killer instinct. He was too soft. Itachi was right to try to build up the boys anger and hatred. When Sasuke was angry enough, he was practically unstoppable.

He knew the Kyuubi jinchuuriki was the closest thing Sasuke ever had to a friend. Would his anger and hatred be enough to commit the ultimate betrayal of friendship?

The chakra of his other pawn made itself known and Madara stood and walked to the door. Opening it, he invited the deva path into his sanctuary. He again took his seat and waited for Pein to begin.

"It seems there has been trouble in Konoha."

"How so?"

"Someone infiltrated the village last night and, with help from the inside, disappeared with the nine-tails."

"You don't say." That was interesting. He was sure the infiltrator had to be Sasuke. But he certainly did not expect inside help. "Why would anyone in Konoha want to help an enemy?" Although he said his thoughts aloud, he didn't expect an answer. He got one anyway.

"It is rumored that the hokage had the jinchuuriki caged up to be used as a weapon when needed. Most likely those who consider themselves friends of the nine-tails provided assistance."

"I see..." Madara stroked his chin thoughtfully. Things were certainly getting interesting. Konoha was falling apart from the inside and he couldn't wait to be the catalyst of it's final destruction. "Has there been any word of Sasuke?"

"No."

"Leave me. Let me know when he has returned with the boy."

Pein gave him a nod and left. Madara chuckled.

"Soon... Soon I will have my revenge."

* * *

Sasuke sat up with a gasp. He looked around at the unfamiliar room warily until he remembered where he was.

The Abandoned City.

Naruto!

He shot up and quickly made his way into the bedroom. Karin was still asleep and Naruto...well, maybe it was easier to say he was asleep as well. He silently walked to the bed and lightly pulled open the blond's eyelids. The dull blue eyes were still unmoving. Like he was stuck in a never ending nightmare. With a sigh he sat on the floor with the very thick file in his hands. Glancing out the window, he could see the sun high in the sky. It had to be close to noon. Going back to sleep was not an option. It was too bright out. And he had no desire to deal with anymore of his recurring nightmares. No matter how many times he had them, he woke up shaking.

He was still too weak.

He lifted his pale fingers to brush away the hair in his face. His other fingers traced over the edges of the folder.

Did he really want to know?

It had always been easier for him to brush the blond off as an idiot, a clumsy bumbling dead last. It made it easier for him not to care. It made it easier to believe someone so happy would never understand his pain.

But what if he did?

How much emotional pain must Naruto be in to shut down like he had? What had Danzou done to him?

He took a deep breath and opened to the first page.

The next room over, Kakashi - always a light sleeper - heard Sasuke walk by. He turned to his lover who was still fast asleep. Iruka had a hard time falling asleep due to his worry over Naruto. But eventually he succumbed to his exhaustion. Even still, worry lines creased the teacher's brow. Running a finger lightly over the furrows, Kakashi watched as Iruka's face smoothed out. With a slight smile at the chuunin, he left his spot and decided to see what was going on.

He reached up to run through his tangled silver strands as he made his way across the hall. Upon reaching the bedroom, he glanced inside and noticed the red-head sleeping in a sleeping bag. He looked on the lone bed in the room and saw Naruto hadn't moved at all since he placed him there last night. On the floor next to the bed sat Sasuke, his head buried in a folder. With a sigh, he sat down next to him. Sasuke didn't move a muscle.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing actually. I was just checking on Naruto." Kakashi replied.

"No change."

"Yes, I noticed."

"It's like he's stuck in a nightmare he doesn't know how to get out of."

"I'm sure you can understand what that's like."

Sasuke was instantly glaring at the copy nin who shrugged at the expression. "What?" Kakashi asked innocently.

"Don't."

"But-"

"Just don't Kakashi."

"...Right."

The room was blessedly silent after that. Sasuke didn't need his old sensei screwing with his head.

"So, find anything important?"

Sasuke clenched his hand into a fist and looked up at Kakashi. He was annoyed. And, damn him, Kakashi knew it. "No."

"Find anything interesting then?"

"Kakashi, why do you insist on bothering me?" The copy nin tilted his head to the side with a smile behind his mask.

"I'm just trying to make conversation."

"You never _just_ make conversation." Sasuke glared at Kakashi. "Don't try to analyze me."

"I don't need to analyze you Sasuke. I know you well enough already."

"You know nothing about me!"

Sasuke turned back to his reading and did his best to ignore the man beside him. Kakashi chuckled lightly and pulled out his trusty book. All was quiet for a while. Sasuke was soon engrossed in the file again. He shook his head at the sheer number of medical records he was going through. It was almost like Naruto spent more time at the hospital than at home. And all this time, he thought his teammate was just a horrible klutz. How Naruto didn't hate Konoha was beyond his realm of understanding.

_'Why didn't you fight back dobe?'_

"Because his hands were tied." Sasuke looked up at his ex-sensei, who was still looking at his book. Had he said that aloud?

"What do you mean?"

Kakashi closed his book with a sigh and put it in his pocket. Then he turned his gaze on Sasuke and refused to let go.

"The council took every precaution when it came to Naruto. There were a whole set of rules created specifically for him. If he was attacked by anyone in the village, he could not raise his hand against any of them or it would be considered the hostile action of a demon. He would've been imprisoned or even killed. If he was attacked by a fellow ninja, he could not raise his hand against them or it would be considered a traitorous action. There were a whole set of rules created just for him. I'm sure they're in the file somewhere. It was only through the Sandaime that he was able to live any semblance of a normal life. He assigned ANBU guards to watch out for him, but even that couldn't stop every instance of violence inflicted upon him. And if not for him, Naruto would've never become a ninja. The village didn't want him at the academy. And the council tried to forbid Naruto from attending, but the Sandaime wouldn't stand for it.

Even still, it didn't completely stop the council's meddling. When Naruto started attending, teachers were advised by the council to ignore him and make sure he didn't excel."

Sasuke didn't even notice he was gaping. What he was hearing was unbelievable.

"Surprised? I bet you'd be even more surprised to know that Naruto wasn't as stupid as he acted. Some of us who were his ANBU guard used to teach him little things when he was a child. He picked things up quickly, of course. When he first started at the academy, he studied and read everything he could find that he could understand. It didn't take him long to figure out that the teachers were either completely ignoring him or screwing with his tests to make sure he failed them. His books would mysteriously disappear and they would make him pay for a new set. I think once he noticed what the teachers were doing, he just stopped trying and to keep everyone off his back, he goofed off instead."

Kakashi looked down in shame. He had been forced to do things he wasn't proud of as well.

"I'm ashamed to say I was no better. As soon as the council knew that I would most likely be his jounin sensei, they approached me and held my shinobi status over my head so that I would do their bidding. They wanted me to give you all of my attention while Naruto was to receive minimal training. I really didn't have much choice but to accept the terms. If Minato-sensei were here, he'd kill me himself for what I did."

"You mean the Yondaime? Why would he care?"

"He never said the words, but I know he assumed that I would look after him when he died. I didn't."

"And why would that be your responsibility?"

Kakashi stared at the blank wall and swallowed hard. "He was my sensei."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "You always knew _who_ Naruto was didn't you?"

"Yes. I was one of the few people who knew Minato-sensei and Kushina were married and that she was pregnant."

"He has no idea does he?"

Kakashi shook his head. He couldn't look at the accusing glare. Sasuke turned away in disgust.

"Look, I was wrong. I already know that. But don't you _dare_ look at me like that Sasuke. You're the last person who can judge me, because what you did wasn't any better. At least I've tried to atone for my mistakes by being there for him after he came back from training. All you did was abandon him, attempt to kill him - not just once, but twice. And to top it all off, you joined his greatest enemy and planned to take Naruto to them."

Sasuke turned his head and glared at his former sensei. "But I didn't. And I won't."

"So you say. But I guess I don't have much choice but to trust you do I?"

"Hn."

Sasuke was about to go back to his reading when Naruto screamed.

* * *

The Root and ANBU had been dismissed a little over an hour ago with their assignments. Danzou sat back in his chair and waited. A good quarter of his finest ninja were being sent to track down the traitors and whoever might be with them. Now he had one more meeting to deal with. His guests should be arriving at any minute.

There was a knock at the door and Gin stepped inside and closed the door.

"My guests have arrived?"

"Yes Danzou-sama."

"Send them in and place a privacy jutsu on the room. I want no interruptions."

"Yes Danzou-sama." With a bow, Gin opened the door and allowed the group inside before closing the door behind him.

In the room stood Team Kurenai, Team Gai, Team Asuma, and Team Kakashi. The missing ninja were glaringly obvious.

"I see a few of your team members are not here. Any idea where they might be?"

Sakura, like her mentor, had no problem opening her mouth defiantly. "I did not see Kakashi at his apartment on my way here. And as you already know, Naruto has been missing."

Danzou glared at her. He expected her to squirm.

She didn't. If anything, she glared right back. Danzou immediately hated her. She was just like Tsunade.

He turned his eye to the other teams. "Well?"

Hinata, although the shyest, was the one who bailed them out. "I-I h-havent seen Neji since yesterday morning when he left for a mission." She looked down immediately after her words.

"Knowing Shikamaru, he probably fell asleep looking at the clouds after he got the summons." Ino said laughing a bit nervously.

"Hmm." Danzou allowed the pathetic excuses to slide and glared at the group. "Why do you think you are here?"

"You're going to grace us with another youthful mission?" Gai boomed. "One that will display the power of youth to our enemies!"

Any other situation and the entire room would have sweatdropped. As it is, they all stared at the enthusiastic, fashion-challenged jounin.

Danzou's ignored the loud ninja's antics and continued. "There were some disturbing incidents late last night. Fireworks going off for no reason, a stampede of animals down the main road." He directed his gaze to the younger Gai clone. "A drunken brawl that spilled out into the streets."

Lee blushed and looked away in embarrassment.

"The timing of these...incidents...seem to match up with the time the offender or offenders entered into and left the village. Coincidence?"

"Hokage-sama, are you implying that we had something to do with this?" Kurenai asked.

"Did you?"

"Of course not. I have a baby to take care of. I couldn't have possibly been out at that time of night."

"Of course." Danzou said smoothly. His eyes slowly roamed past each of the standing ninja, stopping at Team Gai. Ten Ten gulped. She knew he was waiting for an explanation for Lee's behavior. And since no one else seemed to want to say anything...

"Someone accidentally gave Lee sake. He doesn't handle alcohol well."

"Yes, my youthful student seems to be adept at using the Drunken Fist when under the influence." Gai added.

"I see." Danzou squeezed his cane in his hand. No one was giving an inch. He was hoping one of them would be stupid enough to give something away in a glance, gesture, word, something... Unfortunately, he couldn't keep them there for no reason. "Please keep a leash on your student so it doesn't happen again." he sneered.

"Yes hokage-sama."

"Dismissed." The group silently left. None of them dared speak or even breathe until they had left the building. And none of them gave each other a glance as they split up and walked away.

Back in his office, Danzou - while not getting as much information as he wanted - still looked smug as he watched Gin pour some sake and hand it to him.

"Did you find out anything Danzou-sama?"

"Some. I know there are at least three who are traitors. I assume they are already far from the village. I will need to update the bingo book with their information. I should've known the copy-ninja would finally rebel. It was only a matter of time and I could only keep him under my thumb for so long. He was already disobeying my orders anyway by training the boy. The Hyuuga is a surprise considering he is one of ANBU's finest. That Nara boy though, he's a genius. He probably had everything figured out long ago. And the fog had to be created by a mist nin. He could be the one who infiltrated the village or he could just be another that provided a distraction. I'm not sure."

"Ryoku and Kuro should be awake tomorrow according to Takai."

"Good, good. I want to be notified as soon as they awaken."

"As you wish, Danzou-sama."

The moment his assistant was gone, he chuckled darkly. Soon he would know everything he needed to. And then he would find the offenders and crush them.

"I will get you back my little pet kitsune."

**a/n:** Well, hope this will keep you happy for a little while. This was a struggle to write for some reason. And then I had to go back and read a few chapters just so I could get and idea of what I wanted to accomplish with this chapter. But, it's done! Hopefully you enjoyed reading. Please feel free to leave a review. :)


	10. The Dreaded Author's Note

I know everyone is seeing this and going "oh no, not the dreaded AN!" I hate when I see these things so I know you do too. I never thought I'd have to put one of these up, but stuff happens sometimes. So before I get started, all I can say is I'm so sorry for what I'm about to do. Really, I am.

Without getting way too descriptive of my personal life I'll just say that if any of you have been keeping up with my profile, you know work and my mom being in the hospital have kept me from being able to finish writing any chapters lately. Well, I guess when it rains it pours because I just found out a couple of days ago that my mother will need to have major surgery on Friday. She's already weak and has a bad heart and that's just going to make the surgery even harder. So right now I'm a mess. My mother is my best friend and it just about kills me to think about what could happen if anything goes wrong. I don't know what I'd do without her. Even after the surgery, she'll have to spend the next month in the hospital going through rehab and me, my dad and a couple of other family members are going to have to split time so there can always be someone staying with her.

The last time I attempted to do anything writing-wise was last weekend and I think I only got a couple of paragraphs done. And now I'm too stressed out and emotionally wrecked to even think about writing anything. And I really don't know how soon I'll have a chance to write again. I'm stopping short of saying I'm on hiatus because you may see some Dobe and Teme Chronicles here and there because one shots and drabbles are easier for me to write. And I'm sure there will be some times when I'm in the hospital with nothing to keep me company but my blackberry and I have been known to type on it when I need to so I might write some of my chapters on my phone.

Again, I apologize to all my faithful readers. I hope you all are willing to be patient a bit longer. I'll do my best to make it worth the wait.

- Twisted Vixen


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